Philharmonia Orchestra: Infernal Dance: Inside the World of Béla Bartók, London

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Infernal Dance: Inside the World of Béla Bartók, London

Royal Festival Hall
Thu 27 Oct 2011 7:30pm

Esa-Pekka Salonen

conductor

Yefim Bronfman

piano

Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay

violin

Mark van de Wiel

clarinet

Bartók

Contrasts

Bartók

Suite, The Wooden Prince

Bartók

Dance Suite

Bartók

Piano Concerto No. 2

Also this evening :

Pre-concert talk with Malcolm Gillies

Infernal Dance: Mikrokosmos

For Bartók the world of fairytale was often a dark and dangerous one. The mysterious Mandarin dies in a violent sexual frenzy; Bluebeard’s castle is a living prison. Only in the ballet The Wooden Prince, written between 1914 and 1917, did Bartók allow love to triumph over adversity, in a far-off land of forests and fairies. In this world of enchantment and infatuation, the princess heroine ultimately discards her beloved Wooden Prince doll, and learns to love the real prince, the power of human emotion overwhelming the jealous fairy’s mischief. The Wooden Prince was a huge success at its première, and is notable for its extraordinarily large orchestral forces, the biggest Bartók ever wrote for; this evening’s performance features the orchestral suite from the ballet music, alongside the percussive sonorities of the Second Piano Concerto, the seminal chamber work Contrasts and the folk rhapsody of the Dance Suite.

This concert is part of the 2011/12 orchestrate student season. Click here for more info.

Infernal Dance is supported by The Meyer Foundation

The Philharmonia is grateful to the Edwin Fox Foundation for its support of this concert.

Click here to view an interactive online version of the Autumn-Winter 2011/12 season brochure.