JOHANNES BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56
RICHARD STRAUSS: Burleske in D minor for Piano and Orchestra
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HECTOR BERLIOZ: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17 – orchestral excerpts (Scène d’amour,
La reine Mab scherzo, Roméo seul, Banquet scene)

Denis Kozhukhin piano
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Lawrence Foster

This concert by the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra showcases three faces of Romanticism: Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1873), is a masterpiece of Late Romanticism, while Richard Strauss’s Burleske in D minor (1885-86), composed for piano and orchestra, has already moved into ironically retrospective Post-Romanticism, and Berlioz’s dramatic symphony Romeo and Juliet (1839), considered a rarity like the Strauss piece, remains one of the top achievements of the first great wave of Romanticism. The world-famous American conductor Lawrence Foster is a recurring guest of the HNPO, as is the singularly virtuosic Russian-born Belgian pianist Denis Kozhukhin.

Born in Los Angeles to a family of Romanian ancestry in 1941, the American conductor Lawrence Foster has accepted invitations to conduct several concerts with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra – always with explosive success. The programme of Enescu, Miklós Rózsa and Tchaikovsky he played at his last appearance was truly special, and his current one promises to be no less so, offering three chapters of Romanticism to marvel at: the masterpiece Variations on a Theme by Haydn Brahms wrote in 1873 at age 41 as the ripe fruit of Late Romanticism and the 22-year-old Richard Strauss’s Burleske, completed in 1886, which has already moved into Post Romanticism through its irony and the gestures with which it mixes memories of Liszt and Wagner into its style. And Berlioz? The four parts of his 1839 dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette, the Love Scene, the Queen Mab Scherzo, Romeo Alone and the Ball Scene, will surely convince the audience that this form of music is the voice of the first great chapter of Romanticism. Like Lawrence Foster, the guest soloist for the evening, the singularly virtuosic Belgium-based Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin, is also a returning guest of the HNPO, and it will be exciting to meet him again.