Astrophysicist, author and art connoisseur Dr. Mario Livio, knows that the music of Schoenberg can make listeners uncomfortable.
Still, he is sure that the composer?s piece “Verklarte Nacht” (Transfigured Night) will fully win over everyone who hears it performed this weekend.
“The piece is complex, but truly magical,” Livio said. “There is symmetry here on many levels.”
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, through its Explorer Series, delves into the question of what makes something beautiful. Together with guest conductor James Judd of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the BSO will examine in music Livio?s notion that symmetry is at the core of all that is viewed sublime.
The concert showcases Mozart?s “Symphony No. 40,” Bach?s “Orchestral Suite No. 3” and Schoenberg?s “Verklarte Nacht.”
“Drawing on his scientific expertise, Dr. Livio will provide numerous musical and visual examples of the ways in which symmetry ? the appearance of balance or unity in form and proportion ? affects perceptions of beauty,” BSO program notes explain.
As part of his visual presentation, Dr. Livio discusses the aesthetic implications of the so-called “Golden Ratio,”that elusive and mysterious proportion that has appeared in art and architecture throughout the centuries.
“Bach and Mozart loved symmetry and used it in their pieces,” said Livio, a senior scientist at Baltimore?s Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute and a best-selling author. “But the challenge is to speak of the symmetry in relation to Schoenberg.
“This weekend?s program … paired with Dr. Livio?s accessible insight demonstrate how important the concept of symmetry is to understanding beauty, and by extension, classical music,” Jeremy Rothman, BSO?s artistic administrator, said.
IF YOU GO
BSO Explorer Series ? Symmetry and the Golden Ratio
» Venue: Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore
» When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday
» Tickets: $21 to $80
» More info: 877-BSO-1444
