Los Angeles Music Preview: DVOŘÁK & SIBELIUS / ROUVALI & MOSER (Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Post image for Los Angeles Music Preview: DVOŘÁK & SIBELIUS / ROUVALI & MOSER (Los Angeles Philharmonic)

by Tony Frankel on November 9, 2016

in Theater-Los Angeles

DVOŘÁK & SIBELIUS AT DISNEY HALL

dvorak-and-sibeliusAn LA Phil favorite, prizewinning German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser (pictured left) makes his return under the baton of exciting young Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali (pictured below) for a performance of Dvořák’s monumental and much-loved cello concerto. Also this Friday through Sunday (Nov. 11-13, 2016), Rouvali leads the acclaimed L.A. orchestra in the famed first symphony by his countryman, Jean Sibelius.

Written at the turn of the 20th century, Symphony No. 1 is known for its unusual opening, which features a long and discursive clarinet solo over a timpani roll. Sibelius started writing the First in 1898, and finished in early 1899, when he was 33. The work was first performed on 26 April 1899 by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer, in an original version which has not survived. The symphony is characterized by its use of string and woodwind solos; subsequent movements include violin, viola, and cello solos.

You will also find out-of-the-ordinary instrumentation in the program’s opening piece at Walt Disney Hall: Alexander Mosolov’s The Iron Foundry, an example of Soviet futurist music distinguished by the sound of an actual metal sheet.

santtu-matias-rouvali

Moser recently recorded the cello concerto with conductor Jakub Hrůša in Prague. Below, Moser takes us on the inspirational journey that Dvořák took when he composed his work in Prague and New York–you can see him during the recording session discussing the original manuscript with Hrůša and producer Job Maarse.

Below is the first movement (Allegro) which introduces two of Dvořák’s most memorable themes. The one at the beginning—low clarinet, joined by bassoons, with a somber accompaniment of violas, cellos, and basses—lends itself to a remarkable series of oblique, multi-faceted harmonizations, and the other, more lyrical, is one of the loveliest horn solos in the literature. Here, too, Moser shows why he is a world-class player.

Los Angeles Philharmonic
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Guest Conductor
Johannes Moser, cello
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave.
Friday and Saturday, November 11 and 12, 2016, at 8
Sunday, November 13, 2016, at 2
for future events, call 323.850.2000 or visit LA Phil

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