Stephen Hough Plays Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1

I was so happy to be at Abravanel Hall for a Utah Symphony concert last night and, even though I wasn't very familiar with the pieces that were performed, I really enjoyed them both.  The orchestra began with Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable" by Carl Nielsen and I thought it was incredibly dramatic.  It was written as the world was on the brink of World War I and represents the will to live.  The mood and the tempo change quite a few times throughout the piece to emphasize the ebb and flow of life.  Sometimes it is very mournful with themes played by a solo cello and a solo violin, sometimes it is hopeful with themes played by the woodwinds, and sometimes it is triumphant with themes played by the brass.  My favorite was the fourth and final movement because it features two sets of timpani, placed on opposite sides of the stage, and it seems like they are dueling with each other.  It is really intense and it was actually a lot of fun to watch the back and forth between timpanists George Brown and Eric Hopkins.  The piece ultimately ends in victory with stirring themes by the strings and brass and I loved it so much.  So did the rest of the audience (people were talking about it in the elevator after the concert) because the orchestra and guest conductor Rune Bergmann, who is adorable, received a well-deserved standing ovation.  After the intermission the orchestra was joined by pianist Stephen Hough, who is very popular with Utah Symphony audiences, for Piano Concerto No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.  The piece also begins very dramatically with just the orchestra playing for quite a while before the piano enters softly.  Eventually the theme played by the piano gathers momentum to become really powerful and I loved watching Hough's fingers flying up and down the keyboard.  The second movement was my favorite because it is incredibly romantic and emotional (it was supposedly written for Clara Schumann, the wife of composer Robert Schumann, with whom Brahms had a complicated friendship) and Hough played it with so much feeling.  The final movement seems almost frenzied in comparison but it is no less beautiful.  I really enjoyed this concert, even more than I was expecting to, and I recommend getting a ticket (go here) to tonight's performance of the same program.

Note:  I am a season subscriber to the Masterworks series this year and my seat is next to the two cutest little old ladies.  They greet me like a long lost friend now and wondered where I was the last concert (I had to exchange my ticket in order to see James Taylor that night).