Conrad van Alphen conducts Shor, Liszt, and Brahms – With Rémi Geniet

The concert begins with a work by Ukrainian-born composer Alexey Shor: Childhood Memories, a suite of fourteen short pieces for piano whose movements evoke the progression from early childhood through adolescence and first love… Next, a diabolical change in atmosphere with Liszt's famous Totentanz, the "Dance of the Dead"—a piece that the great virtuoso spent decades perfecting, and whose final form presents a dazzling technical showstopper that almost pits the piano and orchestra against each other in a maelstrom of frenzied rhythm. The program closes with another contrast from the preceding work: Brahms's Symphony No. 2 in D Major, a joyful finishing touch on a splendid evening.

Photo: Rémi Geniet © Laurent Bugnet