PASTORAL
Saturday, April 23 at 8:00 pm
Sunday, April 24 at 3:00 pm
Marc Taddei, conductor
Caroline Shaw, “Entr’acte”
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No.1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1, Soloist Jeffrey LaDeur
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68
Our “Pastoral” concert opens with Caroline Shaw’s astonishing “Entr’acte.” You’ll listen spellbound as Shaw, the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music, compresses time and stretches it out again—taking us, in her words, “behind the looking glass.” From its dramatic opening statement to the fiery thrills of its close, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 delivers a virtuoso punch tempered by lush lyricism. Jeffrey LaDeur will perform this striking concerto with all the power and nuance it deserves. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the only one of his symphonies to depict a story, takes the listener for a Sunday walk in the countryside, with bucolic melodies and birdcalls that set a pastoral scene, a country dance led by an out-of-time brass band, an unexpected thunderstorm, and a hymn of thanksgiving.