Each of the three works on this program reveals a composer of startling originality. First off is a new work by the NSO’s composer-in-residence this season, Brett Dean. Dean’s career has taken him from his homeland in Australia to violist in the Berlin Philharmonic to full-time composer with an international reputation. His From Melodious Lay is scheduled for its world premiere in London in November 2016, and Taiwanese audiences will hear it just two months later, as the NSO is one of four commission partners. Bartók’s First Piano Concerto has been described as “a composition that speaks with compelling urgency and in his own unmistakably pungent voice.” (Michael Steinberg). The sensational Chinese pianist Yuja Wang stars in this brilliantly virtuosic showpiece. Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony – almost as popular as Beethoven’s Fifth! – is remarkable in that the composer managed to please both hardline Soviet officials demanding music for the masses and those who believed the composer was pursuing only the highest artistic ideals.

NSO Chatroom

2017/1/12 Thur. 19:30
Guest: YUJA WANG
Moderator: YUAN-PU CHIAO
Venue: NSO Rehearsal Studio at the National Concert Hall
Open to ticket holders of Hero Reborn Cocnert