NOSPR/Young/Richard-Hamelin/Abandoning the Schemas

Before the concert, at 6.30 p.m., we invite you to the chamber hall for a meeting with editor Andrzej Sułek (Program 2 of Polish Radio), who will discuss the works performed that evening. Entrance to the lecture is free, to participate in the lecture is entitled to show a subscription card or a ticket to the concert. The lecture will also be broadcast live on YouTube.

Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto begins with an orchestral march: military, heavy, triumphal places. However, we quickly become convinced that the emotions triggered by the virtuoso passages of the solo instrument are variable. There is also enthusiasm, and song on the lips, and more intimate experiences. The concert was created in the process of improvisation: on the day of the premiere, the piano part was barely sketched, and Beethoven played from memory and sketchy sketches, bringing to despair the student who turned the pages over to him, who passed this anecdote to posterity.

The drama of Beethoven's work is emphasized by the dark key of C minor. Antonín Dvořák's Othello concert overture oscillates between the weather in A major and the strangeness of F minor. Well, Otello, in his mad jealousy, is at the same time a misfit, a black man, someone who can easily be credited with following his primal instincts. Racism? Of course, no stranger to the world of classical music. Assessing Dvořák's attitude, however, needs to be nuanced. The composer, whose involvement in the Czech cause was widely known, inspired Americans to search for their own musical idiom. He advocated that the national music of the United States be based on the folklore of indigenous peoples and black slaves.

This subversive thought was developed by William Levi Dawson, who in 1934 presented the Negro Folk Symphony, drawing extensively on Dvořák's heritage. For years, however, the music of black composers was regarded as the margin of “real” work, and only now Dawson's work freely reaches the consciousness of listeners around the world.

Adam Suprynowicz (Polish Radio)

Duration of the concert (including the break): approx. 110 minutes

More concerts as part of the S1 symphonic concert series.

Performers: NOSPR; Charles Richard-Hamelin — piano

Program: Antonín Dvořák — Othello Concerto Overture; Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Concerto III in C minor Op. 37; William L. Dawson — Negro Folk Symphony