Noted Franz Liszt interpreter, Tim Smith, will be performing Franz Liszt's most interesting work for piano and orchestra, Totentanz, this Saturday, at Bartlett High School. He will be accompanied by the Anchorage Civic Orchestra, directed by Tai Wai Li, in the ensemble's Autumn Concert. Also on the program will be Mozart's Overture to the Magic Flute, his 39th Symphony, Bartok's Rumanian Dances, and Vaughn Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves.
Totentanz is remarkable for the amount of virtuosic percussive effects Liszt incorporated into the pianist's role. As long as most piano concertos of the early to mid-Romantic period, Totentanz places a far greater role upon the piano soloist than does any piano concerto from the same period. The work is in theme and variations form, with the theme based on the medieval Gregorian plainsong, Dies Irae, "day of wrath." Many of the variations highlight the piano almost exclusively, and a few feature the pianist in extended solos.
Liszt's lifelong fascination with death, the fate of the soul and the macabre saw its greatest expression in this work, and in his Faust Symphony. Unlike the Faust Symphony, though, Totentanz has always been a popular concert work, since its first performance in this version, in 1859.
Saturday's Anchorage Civic Orchestra concert is an excellent deal, with all tickets pricd below $20.00 The afternoon concert starts at 4:00 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment