Tag: Zoe Beyers

Desire for Life – Worcester

Shostakovich’s Tenth String Quartet (Barshai’s arrangement as the Chamber Symphony Op. 118a) comes from the early years of the Brezhnev era. This deeply-personal work was dedicated to Shostakovich’s closest musical confidant, the Polish-Jewish refugee composer Mieczysław Weinberg. Just as Dvořák had brought Czech elements to the Austro-German traditions, Weinberg brought the music of his heritage into the otherwise restrictive world of Soviet Realism.

Hans Gál also knew the misery of exile, and, like Weinberg, experienced the indignity of detention by his adopted country when he was interned by the UK government as a so-called ‘enemy alien’ following his settlement here.

The programme concludes with another transcription of a string quartet, Kenneth Woods’ acclaimed arrangement of Viktor Ullmann’s Third String Quartet, written in the Terezin detention camp near Prague where he, along with thousands of other Jews, was held by the Nazis prior to his murder in Auschwitz in October 1944.

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Zoë Beyers at Cheltenham Town Hall

Schumann’s complete work Manfred – based upon Lord Byron’s dramatic poem of the same name – is rarely performed these days, however the Overture has found its place in Schumann’s enduring repertoire. Schumann’s love of literature was fostered by his father, a bookseller and publisher, and his affinity for combining great literary works and music, alongside his own writing in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, led to him becoming one of the influential artistic voices of the Romantic era.

As part of this Romantic composer-led programme, ESO leader and violinist Zoë Beyers will be bringing Tchaikovsky’s challenging but much-loved Violin Concerto to life. Although the concerto was not well received by his friends, family or critics in the first instance, the public’s enthusiasm for the work was swift and triumphant and it remains one of the most difficult violin concertos in a violinist’s repertoire.

The concert concludes with Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 From the New World. Composed during his time as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, this symphony was a huge success and the New York Evening Post commented that it is “the greatest symphonic work ever composed in this country”, high praise indeed!

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Inspired by Mahler

Despite being, as he described himself, “thrice homeless,” Gustav Mahler rose from humble origins to become the most powerful and celebrated conductor of his time, and one of the greatest composers of all time. By the time of his tragically early death in 1911, he had become an inspirational beacon for a new generation of outsider composers and performers. These composers would re-shape the world of music in the years after World War I

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