LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral” (1808)
Beethoven subtitled his work: “Pastoral Symphony of Reminiscence of Rural Life, More an Expression of Feeling than Tone Painting.” Still, it’s as if the composer had stepped into a landscape. Listen for the proverbial babbling brook; the calls of cuckoo, quail and nightingale; a thundering summer storm; and then the feelings of contentedness when calm is restored. Definitely the softer side of Beethoven.

FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)
Fantasy on Motives from Beethoven’s The Ruins of Athens (1852)
A lengthy orchestral introduction gives way to a sudden outburst as the piano makes its grand entrance. You’ll recognize the march theme from the incidental music for the drama The Ruins of Athens, encircled by passages in the highest registers of the piano. The inspiration is Beethoven’s, but the execution is definitely Liszt at his virtuosic best.

FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)
Totentanz (Dance of Death) (1847/1862)
“The Piano Concerto from Hell” might be a good subtitle for this wild and furious work; the French might call it a danse macabre. But no matter what you call it, it is a chilling, scary, brilliant set of variations on the famed medieval theme, Dies irae (Day of Wrath, or Judgment Day), part of the Mass for the Dead. Liszt shows in music that sooner or later Death invites everyone to dance.

SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Scythian Suite (1915)
Think of the Scythian Suite as The Rite of Spring on steroids. Bolder, louder, wilder, no holds barred—with a scenario more than a little reminiscent of Stravinsky’s work: primitive tribes—the Scythians of the title—enemy gods, an idol worshipped by ancient celebrants. The story behind the Suite is a fascinating one. Prokofiev’s mother had treated him to a graduation present after he completed his training at the St. Petersburg Conservatory: a tour through Western Europe. In London he was introduced to the great impresario Serge Diaghilev, whose staging of Stravinsky’s ballet Rite in 1913 had caused one of the most notorious riots in all of classical music. Diaghilev’s acclaimed Ballets Russes were performing in England, and the young man seized the opportunity to hook up with the man who might be able to advance his career. Diaghilev was impressed with Prokofiev, and after lengthy negotiations, the two men settled on a ballet with a prehistoric theme. When Diaghilev received the score, then called Ala and Lolli (names of the idol and a warrior, respectively) he rejected it as uninteresting. Not one to be discouraged, Prokofiev reworked the score into a concert piece, the present Scythian Suite. The first movement tempo marking is Allegro feroce—setting the tone with forceful brass and percussion sounds. There is also martial music, with occasional forays into more delicate writing, ending in a finale marked “tempestuoso.”

Kurt Masur is well known to orchestras and audiences alike as both a distinguished conductor and humanist. In September 2002 he became music director of the Orchestre National de France in Paris. Effective with the beginning of the 2008–09 season he assumed the title of honorary music director for life of the Orchestre National de France, ensuring his close and active involvement with that ensemble for many more years to come. From 2000 to 2007 he was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic. From 1991 to 2002 he was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic; following his 11- year tenure he was named Music Director Emeritus, becoming the first New York Philharmonic music director to receive that title, and only the second (after the late Leonard Bernstein, who was named Laureate Conductor) to be given an honorary position.

The New York Philharmonic established the Kurt Masur Fund for the Orchestra, which will endow a conductor debut week at the Philharmonic in perpetuity in his honor. From 1970 until 1996 Mr. Masur served as Gewandhaus Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a position of profound historic importance. Upon his retirement from that post, in 1996, the Leipzig Gewandhaus named him its first-ever conductor laureate. Mr. Masur is a guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras and holds the lifetime title of honorary guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In July 2007 Kurt Masur celebrated his 80th birthday in a concert at the BBC Proms in London, where he conducted the joint forces of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France.

A professor at the Leipzig Academy of Music since 1975, Mr. Masur has received numerous honors, including the Cross of the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany; the Gold Medal of Honor for Music from the National Arts Club; the titles of Commander of the Legion of Honor and New York City Cultural Honor from the French Government, and New York City Cultural Ambassador from the City of New York; the Commander Cross of Merit of the Polish Republic; the Cross with Star of the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany; and the Great Cross of the Legion of Honor with Star and Ribbon. In September 2008 Mr. Masur received the Furtwängler Prize in Bonn, Germany, and is also an honorary citizen of his hometown, Brieg. Kurt Masur has made more than 100 recordings with numerous orchestras, and in 2008 he celebrated 60 years of career as a professional conductor.

“Kurt Masur has bequeathed the Philharmonic a roseate, golden sound, a downy loft to the rhythm, and a spacious sense of breath.” Newsday

Find additional upcoming performances with Kurt Masur

Canadian pianist Louis Lortie studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of the French pianist, Alfred Cortot); in Vienna with the Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber; and with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher, among others. He has performed the complete works of Ravel in London and Montreal for the BBC and CBC, and has also performed a series devoted to the keyboard, chamber, and vocal music of Brahms and Schumann for CBC.

Mr. Lortie has performed the complete Beethoven sonatas at London’s Wigmore Hall, Toronto’s Ford Center, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. With the Montreal Symphony he performed and conducted all five Beethoven piano concertos. In September 2004 Mr. Lortie opened the Bonn Beethoven Festival playing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with Kurt Masur conducting, and was immediately reengaged for September 2005. In the 2005–06 season Mr. Lortie begins a Liszt/Wagner series in Florence, Italy, and at London’s Wigmore Hall, and performs recitals in Sydney, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

Mr. Lortie has made over 30 recordings on the Chandos label ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky. His recording of Beethoven’s Eroica Variations won the Edison Award, and his disk of Schumann’s Bunte Blatter and other works by Schumann and Brahms was named one of the best CDs of the year by BBC Music Magazine. Born in Montreal, Louis Lortie made his debut with the Montreal Symphony at the age of 13 and with the Toronto Symphony three years later. In 1984 he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prize winner at the Leeds Competition. In 1992 he was named Officer of the Order of Canada. Mr. Lortie made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in April 2004 performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, led by Charles Dutoit.