Tomáš Netopil/Bruce Liu - Brahms: Five Hungarian Dances (Nos. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21/Chopin Piano Concert No. 2/Dvořák Symphony No. 9 From the New World

The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, conducted by Tomáš Netopil, presents a journey through Eastern European music at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, in a concert that sees the debut in the Santa Cecilia symphony season of Bruce Liu, the latest winner of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, with Frédéric Chopin’s Concert No. 2. Tomas Netopil continues this journey with a selection of Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms and the famous Symphony “From the New World” by Antonin Dvořák.

The Hungarian Dances for four hands piano were written by Johannes Brahms in 1852, at the beginning of his musical career. The dances are imbued with the rhythm and melodies of the Gypsies, freed from the virtuosity that was often introduced and invented by the performers.

The Piano Concert No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 was composed by Frédéric Chopin between 1829 and the beginning of 1830 and is divided into three movements typical of instrumental concertos (Maestoso; Larghetto; Allegro vivace). The composition is part of the author's youthful works and it is clear that the composer, although not yet twenty years old, also allows more than one anticipation of his piano writing, his melodic charm and his harmonic colour to emerge in these early works.

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor op. 95 by Antonín Dvořák, also known as the Symphony "From the New World", is the ninth and last symphony of the great Czech composer. The symphony was composed between 1892 and 1893 in New York and from it emerges as the encounter with a complex musical culture, very different from the European one, by the Bohemian master, had notable influences and repercussions on his compositional ideation, enriching it. The local culture, in fact, greatly stimulated the musician, who proposed a symphony of European classical origin, but contaminated by native American music.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Auditorium Parco della Musica official site