Stéphane Denève - Conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet - Piano
PROGRAM
Clyne - This Midnight Hour
Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 2
INTERMISSION
Strauss - Ein Heldenleben
Stéphane Denève's final subscription concerts as the Orchestra's principal guest conductor culminate with Strauss's epic Ein Heldenleben—literally, A Hero's Life—an extravagant, all-encompassing, semi-autobiographical tone poem that quotes from his own prodigious masterpieces. Anna Clyne's imaginative This Midnight Hour, highlighting the power of the lower strings, evokes the journey of a mysterious woman “stripped bare, running mad through the night.” Liszt's heady Second Piano Concerto is gorgeous and technically challenging. Jean-Yves Thibaudet brings to it his intense power and quintessential flair.