BSO and Midori Performs Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2, April 25-27

Gilbert Varga leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and violinist Midori in Bartók's Second Violin Concerto on Thursday, April 25 and Friday, April 26 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and Saturday, April 27 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. The performance also features Brahms' radiant Symphony No. 1.

Bartók composed his Second Violin Concerto for his dear friend and fellow Hungarian, violinist Zoltán Székely, in 1937 and 1938. The piece was written at the height of Bartók's career and right before the threat of the Nazis forced Bartók to leave behind his beloved homeland and seek refuge in the U.S. It is fitting that the Second Violin Concerto, which draws from Bartók and Székely's Hungarian roots, will be conducted by the talenTed Gilbert Varga, son of the celebrated Hungarian violinist Tibor Varga.

The piece showcases a unique collaboration between composer and musician, as Bartók gave in to Székely's requests for a standard three-movement work and followed his advice to "let the work end like a concerto, not a symphony". Bartók, however, also succeeded in satisfying his own desires for the piece by working numerous variations into the fold and bringing them to brilliant heights in the finale. The program will feature the second, more dazzling, ending that Bartók crafted for Székely, which will shine under Midori's "fierce concentration, delicacy of touch, and refinement of coloristic imagination" (The Boston Globe).

The program also includes Brahms' First Symphony, which was completed in 1876 after the composer poured two decades of labor into it. At the time, Brahms was already one of Europe's most renowned composers and had created masterpieces in a multitude of musical genres, excluding opera and the symphony. Brahms worried that his own symphonic contribution would be overshadowed by the work of his hero, Beethoven, but Brahms' First brilliantly transformed influences from Beethoven into a powerful and groundbreaking piece which lifted Brahms out of The Shadows and into the spotlight of the symphonic world.