8th Symphony Concert - Enchanting Sounds

For the season’s final symphony concert, the TSOI plunges into a veritable whirlwind of sound. Alexander Scriabin was regarded in his day as an eccentric and a boundary-pusher in matters of tonality. He achieved his breakthrough with his imposing orchestral work*Le Poème de l’Extase*, which is permeated by chromatic harmonies and evokes associations with Richard Strauss’s tone poems and Richard Wagner’s *Tristan und Isolde*. The poem he wrote himself—some 370 lines long—which forms the basis of the work, revolves around intoxication and ecstasy, love and freedom.

Rachmaninoff’s famous Second Piano Concerto is also intoxicatingly beautiful: it impressively combines wistful sounds, beguiling melodies, and virtuoso elegance. With Tzimon Barto, who is not only a gifted pianist but also a passionate writer, the TSOI delves into the poetic soundscape of the “last Romantic,” who, unlike his fellow student Scriabin, took a more traditional path. György Ligeti, too, employed a tonally very restrained musical language in his 1951“Concert Românesc,” yet the four-movement orchestral concerto was considered politically incorrect during the communist Szörel dictatorship in Hungary.

This charming early work is based on folk melodies that the then 26-year-old Hungarian composer absorbed during his study visit to Romania, and captivates with enchanting solos and striking rhythms. Born in Transylvania (Romania), Ligeti expressed his deep love for Romanian folk music in this piece.