Peter Gajewski has pulled out three plums of programming for the National Philharmonic Orchestra this weekend at The Music Center at Strathmore. With the Philharmonic’s new concert master Justine-Lamb-Budge, Gajewski takes the podium in an all-Beethoven concert that features the composer’s “Prometheus Overture,” the “Symphony No. 6 in F Major” (also known as “Pastoral”) and finally, his iconic “Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major,” better known as “Emperor.”
Performing what Gajewski calls “the most frequently played and most difficult of [Beethoven’s] concertos” is his long-time friend and colleague, Polish pianist Piotr Paleczny.
| Onstage |
| An All-Beethoven Evening |
| Where: Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| When: 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday |
| Info: $32 to $79.00; Ages 7-17 free, 301-493-9283, nationalphilharmonic.org |
“This is a great symphony concerto, where dramatic works are created equally by soloist and orchestra,” said Paleczny, who has appeared as soloist with such world-class orchestras as Warsaw’s National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic and the BBC London Orchestra. “It is the last piece for piano and orchestra written by [Beethoven] and also one of the greatest of [his] middle period works.”
Beethoven, Paleczny points out, was the last of the so-called Viennese composers and also a precursor of Romanticism.
“In the second movement Adagio we can feel the kind of romantic expression which is like a prelude to the next era in music history,” he noted. “In the last movement, the foreground is the joy and power of emotional expression.”
Joy, this time in the mysteries of nature, marks Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, “Pastoral.”
“I’m going to speak about the Pastoral before [the orchestra] plays it,” said Gajewski. “There are three different bird calls in the second movement that are specific imitations of a nightingale, a quail and a cuckoo. We might demonstrate that at the beginning of the second half of the [performance.”]
Beethoven’s “Prometheus Overture” opens the program. Composed for the ballet of the same name, the piece premiered in 1801 at Vienna’s Imperial Hoftheater.
“Some pieces just really go together well,” Gajewski continued. “And this ballet was one of Beethoven’s favorites.”
Like orchestral compositions, the musicians performing them go together well.
“I have the pleasure to know Maestro Gajewski for several years,” pianist Paleczny remarked. “Each of our previous concerts gave me not only pleasure, but also a real artistic satisfaction.”
