Evanston Symphony Orchestra

Based on the 14th century Gregorian plainchant melody “Dies irae” with daring stylistic innovations, Franz Liszt’s Totentanz presents a virtuoso opportunity for soloist Gleb Ivanov at the Evanston Symphony’s March 16 concert at 2:30 at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. 

The Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, born in 1881, is regarded as one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology. Bartók met the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály when he was a student at the Royal Academy of Budapest. The two composers traveled the Hungarian countryside to collect folk melodies and ultimately preserved thousands of songs. They transcribed the folk melodies, analyzed them and incorporated elements of the melodies in their own music. Over his lifetime, Bartók collected and arranged folk music from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria.

Hungarian Connection

This second concert of the ESO’s 68th season showcases masterpieces by the two greatest Hungarian composers, Ferenc (Franz) Liszt and Béla Bartók, plus the most popular symphony by Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius. Hungary and Finland share the connection of their languages, which are related to each other and are both completely dissimilar to those of their surrounding countries. Equally important, the music of neither Hungary nor Finland is considered an integral part of the Austro-German “mainstream” taught in most music history classes.

by Maestro Lawrence Eckerling

As a musician, one of the delights in learning music is hearing and identifying when a composer borrows from another composer or source, or borrows from him or herself. (A specific example is listening to the music of John Williams’ score to Star Wars, where he borrows music or style from ­seemingly every composer that I have ever studied!) We know that Bach borrowed music from himself, as did ­Handel, as did Mozart. The list goes on.

Jean Sibelius’ Second Symphony has long been associated with his native Finland’s bid for freedom from the heavy hand of neighboring Russia. In fact, the piece is known as the “Symphony of Independence,” and its rousing themes can easily be heard in that context.