Les Dissonances & David Grimal: Britten, Barber & Bernstein

O wydarzeniu

Musical invention is played out between plunder, quotation and return.

In his Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Britten pays homage to his teacher; in Lachrymae for viola and piano, Britten turns to the English lutenist Dowland and develops ten variations on the master's air, 'If my complaints could passion move.'

The Bernstein Serenade is also the fruit of an appropriation, but this borrowing is not a musical one: this five‐movement quasi‐concerto for violin is an homage to Plato's Symposium, and each of the movements carries the name of one of the five distinguished speakers of Plato's archetypal work. As for Barber, the powerful work for string orchestra on tonight's program is taken from the Adagio movement of his own string quartet.