Brahms bash
With its rich harmonies and noble melodies, the music of Johannes Brahms is perfect for spring. This weekend, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is touching off a two-week-long Brahms festival. Saturday and Sunday, guest conductor Bruno Ferrandis and the BPO are welcoming pianist Norman Krieger, who will be playing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2. Krieger is, happily, no stranger to our town. He recorded Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with BPO Music Director JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony, and he has played with the BPO several times, always to great acclaim. It should be thrilling to see what Krieger does with the Second Concerto, a soul-stirring, rapturous creation that calls for tremendous strength and maturity. Also on the program is Arnold Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet, Op. 25. This rethinking of a passionate chamber work is an interesting follow-up to the BPO’s performance of an orchestration of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet, recently released on Naxos. The concert takes place at 8 p. m. Saturday and 2:30 p. m. Sunday. The Brahms Festival continues May 8 and 9 when Falletta conducts a program including the great master’s Symphony No. 2 and also his Concerto for Cello and Violin. For more information, call 885-5000. —Mary Kunz Goldman
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