JAIME MARTÍN conducts
GEORGE LI piano
LIGETI Concert Românesc für Orchester
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
Jamie Martin takes us on a tour of Hungarian music from the original rockstar, Franz Liszt, to the modern avant-garde genius of György Ligeti, whose 100th anniversary of his birth we celebrate in 2023.
Ligeti’s scores usually project a sensual appeal to which audiences overwhelmingly respond, even though its vocabulary is not that of most other music. Concert Românesc highlights the composer’s interest in the folk music he encountered as a child and later studied in great detail
George Li, an ultra-virtuosic pianist, takes center stage in the Liszt with blazing octaves, intricate ornamental figurations, and arpeggios running up and down the entire keyboard. The Washington Post said LI “combines staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression.”
Then, Bartok allows each section of the orchestra to shine in his most popular orchestral work.
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