Eerie strings, careening woodwinds, and foreboding brass portray a witches’ sabbath in Mussorgsky’s tone poem, expertly arranged after the composer’s death by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Grieg’s Piano Concerto opens with a famous and forceful descending motif before exploring melodic ideas influenced by the folk music of the composer’s native Norway. Dora Pejaečvić, a member of a Croatian noble family, broke gender barriers in classical music in the early 20th Century; her magnificent Symphony in F-sharp minor concludes this concert.
Anthony Davis’s concerto-like work for clarinet and orchestra was inspired by the composer’s experience of an unjust incident with the police. The soloist is Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, who has championed this work in recent years. Bass-baritone Davóne Tines h...
