Post by erik on Aug 19, 2023 18:05:28 GMT -5
Esa=Pekka Salonen, the current music director of the San Francisco Symphony and Conductor Laureta of the L.A. Philharmonic, is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight both as a conductor and a composer.
Esa-Pekka Salonen: PIANO CONCERTO
The Finnish-born conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen became something of a wunderkind in that chosen field in the 1980’s when he made recordings in his native Sweden, Finland, Germany, and England, but it was his being named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991 that his stock truly began to rise. During his sixteen-year tenure as the L.A. Philharmonic’s music director, he not only encouraged exploration of the tried-and-true of the orchestral repertoire (most prominently that of the 20th century), he also did considerable exploration of decidedly new music. To this end, much like other conductor/composer types like Andre Previn and Leonard Bernstein, Salonen himself contributed a fair number of works of his own. One of these was the Piano Concerto that he composed in 2006-2007 for the great pianist Yefim Bronfman. The work, structured in the traditional three-movement format and lasting thirty-three minutes, has a fair amount of modernism to it, not to mention sizeable orchestration, but also a fair amount of modern jazz influences, which allowed Mr. Bronfman considerable opportunity to demonstrate its virtuoso writing for the piano. Along with “Helix” and “L.A. Variations”, the Piano Concerto was among the most important works of Salonen’s compositional side, and a great addition to the repertoire and recording discography of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Bronfman and Salonen premiered this work during the 2007-2008 season of the orchestra, Salonen’s final one as music director before being named Conductor Laureate and turning over the actual music directorship reins to Gustavo Dudamel.
Piano: YEFIM BRONFMAN
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/ESA-PEKKA SALONEN (Deutsche Grammophon)
Included:
HELIX (FOR ORCHESTRA)
DICHOTOMIE—FOR SOLO PIANO (Piano: YEFIM BRONFMAN)
Esa-Pekka Salonen: PIANO CONCERTO
The Finnish-born conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen became something of a wunderkind in that chosen field in the 1980’s when he made recordings in his native Sweden, Finland, Germany, and England, but it was his being named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991 that his stock truly began to rise. During his sixteen-year tenure as the L.A. Philharmonic’s music director, he not only encouraged exploration of the tried-and-true of the orchestral repertoire (most prominently that of the 20th century), he also did considerable exploration of decidedly new music. To this end, much like other conductor/composer types like Andre Previn and Leonard Bernstein, Salonen himself contributed a fair number of works of his own. One of these was the Piano Concerto that he composed in 2006-2007 for the great pianist Yefim Bronfman. The work, structured in the traditional three-movement format and lasting thirty-three minutes, has a fair amount of modernism to it, not to mention sizeable orchestration, but also a fair amount of modern jazz influences, which allowed Mr. Bronfman considerable opportunity to demonstrate its virtuoso writing for the piano. Along with “Helix” and “L.A. Variations”, the Piano Concerto was among the most important works of Salonen’s compositional side, and a great addition to the repertoire and recording discography of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Bronfman and Salonen premiered this work during the 2007-2008 season of the orchestra, Salonen’s final one as music director before being named Conductor Laureate and turning over the actual music directorship reins to Gustavo Dudamel.
Piano: YEFIM BRONFMAN
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/ESA-PEKKA SALONEN (Deutsche Grammophon)
Included:
HELIX (FOR ORCHESTRA)
DICHOTOMIE—FOR SOLO PIANO (Piano: YEFIM BRONFMAN)