Brahms
Buffalo Music – Shostakovich No. 5
Composed to acknowledge an honorary degree despite not attending university, a mischievous Brahms penned the tongue-in-cheek Academic Festival Overture, featuring boisterous student drinking songs. Del Águila’s Concierto en Tango for Cell and Orchestra is a modern take on the traditional form, light-hearted and rhythmic. The forced optimism of Symphony No. 5, glorifying Stalin’s regime, proved both career- and lifesaving for Shostakovich.
Buffalo Music – Brahms & Bruch
Two English folk songs form George Butterworth’s idyllic The Banks of Green Willow, premiered just two years before the promising young composer’s demise in the trenches of World War I. German Max Bruch, captivated by Scottish traditions, wove these melodies into his violin showpiece, Scottish Fantasy. Meanwhile, Brahms’ expressive Symphony No. 1, finely dubbed “Beethoven’s Tenth,” gestated for 22 years due to his remarkable perfectionism.
Buffalo Music – Shostakovich No. 5
Composed to acknowledge an honorary degree despite not attending university, a mischievous Brahms penned the tongue-in-cheek Academic Festival Overture, featuring boisterous student drinking songs. Del Águila’s Concierto en Tango for Cell and Orchestra is a modern take on the traditional form, light-hearted and rhythmic. The forced optimism of Symphony No. 5, glorifying Stalin’s regime, proved both career- and lifesaving for Shostakovich.