Repertoire

Franz Schreker: Vorspiel zu einem Drama (1913) 22′
Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 in E major, Sz. 119 (1945) 24′
Richard Strauss: Elektra, Symphonic Suite (arr. M. Honeck & T. Ille) (1908) 35′

ARTISTS

Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC
Juan Pérez Floristán, piano
David Afkham, conductor

Programme

The conductor of the National Orchestra of Spain, David Afkham, presents a programme in which the individual faces the abyss.

Although he was a renowned opera composer – even more successful than Richard Strauss – Franz Schreker’s music fell into oblivion when it was banned by Nazi Germany. We will be hearing his Vorspiel zu einem Drama (Prelude to a Drama).

Seville-born pianist Juan Pérez Floristán, one of the winners of the Arthur Rubinstein International Competition, then performs Béla Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto. The Hungarian composer, ever-fascinated by his country’s folklore, had to pen this work far from his homeland, exiled in the US, where he had fled from Nazi persecution. 

The concert closes with the symphonic suite from Strauss’s Elektra, a powerful piece that narrates the revenge of the protagonist in the midst of a struggle for the throne in the ancient Greek city of Mycenae.