Monumental Moments

We begin with Leonard Bernstein, who was a major influence on Music Director John DeMain’s early life and career. Bernstein had a knack for bringing lighthearted populism into the concert hall. Though written in the late 1940s, Shostakovich’s first concerto makes use of traditional musical forms, including a famous Passacaglia, favored by composers like Bach 200 years earlier. Feared by violinists and loved by audiences, it was a hit from the day it was written and is one of the true masterpieces of the solo violin repertoire. The final work is Brahms’ G minor Piano Quartet, orchestrated by Schoenberg. These will be the MSO’s first ever performances of this remarkable work. Schoenberg took Brahms’ chamber work and transformed it into a kaleidoscope of 20th-century orchestral color, giving virtually every instrument the spotlight. – Kyle Knox, Associate Conductor