Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Tragic Overture
Anton von Webern (1883-1945): Five Orchestral Pieces Op. 10
Alban Berg (1885-1935): Seven Early Songs
Johannes Brahms/Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951): Piano Quartet Op. 25, orchestrated by Schoenberg/ “Symphony No. 5.”

OM audiences and Yannick Nézet-Séguin have a special affinity for Brahms. The conductor’s admiration for Brahms knows no bounds, and the composer also made a profound mark on his immediate successor and admirer, Shoenberg, and through him, Webern and Berg. Webern and Berg each deserve a very different kind of attentiveness from the listener.

Brahms composed his two overtures between his Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, saying of them that “one cries, the other one laughs.” In 2002, the OM performed the “one that laughs,” the Academic Festival Overture. Tonight, the “one that cries” opens the program. The Tragic Overture is a forceful yet profound work, bearing the stamp of Brahms’ finest output.

Schoenberg start with the rigorous construction of Brahms’ style to concoct the avant-garde musical language of the Second Viennese School to which Schoenberg’s disciples Webern and Berg also belonged. The Five Orchestral Pieces, whose dense atonal language packed into a mere five minutes of music, illustrate Webern’s characteristic pointillism and miniaturism. Another fascinating feature of the work is the composer’s use of three instruments which are not often heard in the orchestra: cowbells, mandolin, and guitar.

Schoenberg took great pleasure orchestrating Brahms’ Quartet Op. 25 for violin, viola, cello, and piano. His nicknamed his version of the work “Brahms’ Fifth Symphony.” The Hungarian Dance character of the final movement is full of panache and majesty.

Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts
Monday, October 18, 7:30 pm

On Tour
Saint-Laurent, Tuesday, October 12, 8 pm
Pierrefonds, Friday, October 15, 8 pm

[7170] News posted Wednesday, June 2, 2004.

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