From the Shadows

Saturday, March 12, 2011 8:00 PM

Fort Wayne Philharmonic

Venue: Embassy Theater

Program:

Beethoven - Leonora Overture No.3
Myaskovsky - Cello Concerto
Brahms - Symphony No.1

Amit Peled, cello

Brahms, overwhelmed by expectations of continuing Beethoven’s legacy, finally emerged from his shadow with his own first symphony, which took 14 years to complete. Beethoven will open the concert with one of his many overtures written for the opera “Fidelio.” A lyrical masterpiece from the mid-twentieth century, Myaskovsky’s Cello Concerto will be showcased by Israeli cellist Amit Peled.

This March program opens with a dramatic curtain-raiser by Beethoven, his Leonore Overture No.3.  Israeli cellist Amit Peled than performs the evocative Cello Concerto of Myaskovsky, a Russian composer’s reaction to the imminent end of World War II.  We end with the Symphony No.1 of Brahms—a work in which he took on the formidable legacy of Beethoven.  Brahms’s friends and supporters anticipated this work for decades…and it was well worth the wait!