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[SF Symphony Premiere]
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Symphony in C major, The Great
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If you would like assistance purchasing tickets for patrons with disabilities, please call the box office at 415-864-6000.
THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY THE ATHENA T. BLACKBURN ENDOWED FUND FOR RUSSIAN MUSIC.
Manfred Honeck’s appearance is supported by the Louise M. Davies Guest Conductor Fund.
Beatrice Rana’s appearance is supported by the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Guest Artists.
THURSDAY MATINEE CONCERTS ARE ENDOWED BY A GIFT IN MEMORY OF RHODA GOLDMAN.
Event Description
Pianist Beatrice Rana joins Manfred Honeck and the Orchestra for the fiery virtuosity and touching lyricism of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Gloria Isabel Ramos Triano’s amazon celebrates the strength of courageous women while Franz Schubert’s charming and exuberant Symphony in C major is nicknamed The Great for its expansive blueprint.
At A Glance
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is based on Niccolò Paganini’s 24th Caprice for solo violin. Rachmaninoff reworks it into a piano concerto in all but name, encompassing an introduction, the theme itself, and 24 variations. He also comingles the Dies irae from the Latin Requiem mass, and, in the 18th variation, discovers one of the world’s most beautiful melodies by inverting and slowing the original theme.
Franz Schubert’s Great C-major Symphony was never performed publicly during the composer’s life, and was finally premiered a decade later with the support of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn. Its extended scope prompted Schumann’s description of its “heavenly length,” and its grand Romanticism signaled the next evolution in the Viennese symphonic tradition after Ludwig van Beethoven.
