How does a classical musician tackle one of the most popular works in the piano concerto canon while keeping his listeners enthralled? Audiences can find out on Saturday at the Music Center at Strathmore.
| Onstage |
| Greig’s Piano Concerto |
| Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| Time: 8 p.m., Saturday |
| Info: $32 to $79; ages 7 to 17 are free; 301-581-5100 or strathmore.org |
“Grieg’s piece is so beloved and so familiar [that] the challenge is to approach it freshly every time and find something new in it that you missed before,” said the award-winning pianist Brian Ganz, who will be performing the Edvard Grieg masterwork, Piano Concerto in A minor with the National Philharmonic, led by Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski.
“The way I go about that,” Ganz continued, “is to look deeply at the score, go back to it and say, ‘What have I missed?’ The score is our treasure map, and it’s nice when I have a full score so I can look closely at the orchestral portion and find interesting color and aspects of orchestration I might have missed before.”
The approach pleases Gajewski, who always looks forward to performing with Ganz.
“Grieg is a romantic and some incredibly memorable melodies are throughout his music,” the maestro said. “They are always rhythmically interesting.”
Written in 1868 when Grieg was 24 years old, his sublime melodies, along with powerful emotions dominate a concerto that, over the years, has become the backdrop for a wide variety of media. It has been heard in several films, including the 1945 British melodrama “The Seventh Veil,” a Nike commercial and in the TV show, “Twin Peaks.”
In a program Gajewski refers to as “Scandinavian through and through,” Grieg’s vivacious “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen” is a beautifully lyrical recollection of his 25th wedding anniversary in his hometown, where he and his wife lived happily all of their lives. Composed as one of his lyrical works, the piece is a delightfully melodic representation of a wedding day that would have included the entire village. The work is colorful and folksy.
Finnish composer, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major closes the program.
“As one of the major … turn of the century composers, Sibelius developed a language of his own,” Gajewski noted. “The [symphony] is very involved with grand tunes and big brass chorales. It is a celebration of all that is lyrical.”
