Organization

Admin

Carnegie Hall

Conductor

Conductor (+1)

Andris Nelsons

Orchestra

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Pianist (+1)

Mitsuko Uchida

Piano

One of the great Beethoven pianists of our era, Mitsuko Uchida performs the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 4, the most lyrical of his five piano concertos. Completed in summer 1806 in the wake of revisions of his opera Leonore, the concerto shares with the Fourth Symphony and the Violin Concerto a warmth and expansiveness that contrasts with the composer’s stormier, more outwardly heroic music. The Fourth Concerto’s innovative opening—a few quiet chords for piano alone—is bold in its restraint, an unexpected prologue to the brilliance and virtuosity that follow in the substantial first movement. The second movement purportedly places the piano in the role of gentle Orpheus calming the Furies of the orchestra; whether Beethoven’s idea or not, the analogy is clear. The finale’s militaristic main theme suggests victorious celebration.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons mark the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death with the composer’s enigmatic, elegiac final symphony, No. 15. Pure Shostakovich in its sound—searching melodies, wild contrasts between ironic bombast and mourning—the symphony also distinctly quotes from music of the past, including Rossini’s William Tell Overture and music from Wagner’s Ring operas and Tristan und Isolde, while also containing veiled references to his own earlier work

New York City

United States

Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage

Boston Symphony Orchestra: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, op. 58 Beethoven (+1 More)

Concert

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, op. 58

Symphony No. 15, Op.38

Rahul Solomon

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7  in the latest program on BSO NOW. Watch for free through May 31, 2023, at bso.org/now.

BSO NOW | Andris Nelsons conducts Beethoven

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