Post by erik on Oct 2, 2021 11:18:51 GMT -5
The Hungarian-born conductor Antal Dorati, besides being a solid conductor, especially in his adapted home country of America, also was known for composing. One of those works of his is featured in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Antal Dorati: PIANO CONCERTO
Although he didn’t have “name recognition” like fellow Hungarians Sir Georg Solti and George Szell, Antal Dorati was one of the great conductors of the 20th century in his own way. With a significant emphasis on the music from his native Hungary, as well as Igor Stravinsky, and the music of his adapted home country of America (he became naturalized in 1943), Dorati held many posts in London (with the BBC Symphony in the 1960’s) and Sweden (Royal Stockholm Philharmonic from 1966 to 1974), as well as music director stints in Dallas (1945-46), Minneapolis (1949-60), Washington (National Symphony Orchestra; 1970-77), and Detroit (1977-81; and then as conductor laureate). He also had a significant role as a composer of his own, with several symphonies that he had premiered during his time in Sweden. Another work of his was the very modernistic Piano Concerto, which he composed in 1974 for Austrian pianist Ilse von Alpenheim, whom he had married in 1971. This thirty-two minute concerto is redolent of a lot of the modernistic elements of Bela Bartok (another favorite of Dorati’s) and with some very intense piano cascades, enough for Dorati’s wife to have handled when it was first heard with the San Francisco Symphony in 1974, with Dorati on the conductor’s podium and Mrs. Alpenheim at the keyboard. The concerto was put on tape in October 1975, with Mrs. Alpenheim again as soloist, and Dorati in his role as music director and conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Piano: ILSE VON ALPENHEIM
National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C./ANTAL DORATI (Turnabout)
Included:
VARIATIONS FOR SOLO PIANO ON A THEME BY BELA BARTOK (Piano: ILSE VON ALPENHEIM)
Antal Dorati: PIANO CONCERTO
Although he didn’t have “name recognition” like fellow Hungarians Sir Georg Solti and George Szell, Antal Dorati was one of the great conductors of the 20th century in his own way. With a significant emphasis on the music from his native Hungary, as well as Igor Stravinsky, and the music of his adapted home country of America (he became naturalized in 1943), Dorati held many posts in London (with the BBC Symphony in the 1960’s) and Sweden (Royal Stockholm Philharmonic from 1966 to 1974), as well as music director stints in Dallas (1945-46), Minneapolis (1949-60), Washington (National Symphony Orchestra; 1970-77), and Detroit (1977-81; and then as conductor laureate). He also had a significant role as a composer of his own, with several symphonies that he had premiered during his time in Sweden. Another work of his was the very modernistic Piano Concerto, which he composed in 1974 for Austrian pianist Ilse von Alpenheim, whom he had married in 1971. This thirty-two minute concerto is redolent of a lot of the modernistic elements of Bela Bartok (another favorite of Dorati’s) and with some very intense piano cascades, enough for Dorati’s wife to have handled when it was first heard with the San Francisco Symphony in 1974, with Dorati on the conductor’s podium and Mrs. Alpenheim at the keyboard. The concerto was put on tape in October 1975, with Mrs. Alpenheim again as soloist, and Dorati in his role as music director and conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Piano: ILSE VON ALPENHEIM
National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C./ANTAL DORATI (Turnabout)
Included:
VARIATIONS FOR SOLO PIANO ON A THEME BY BELA BARTOK (Piano: ILSE VON ALPENHEIM)