PROGRAM TO FEATURE BEETHOVEN’S OPUS 135
IN RARELY PERFORMED FULL STRING ORCHESTRA PRESENTATION
THE BRILLIANT B’S – BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMS
Date: Saturday, March 9, 2019
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, 716 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield, NJ
$65 reserved seating/$45 general admission / $30 seniors & students
For tickets & information: 908-561-5140 / www.plainfieldsymphony.org
Plainfield, NJ – Under the baton of Maestro Charles Prince, the Plainfield Symphony will perform a program entitled “The Brilliant B’s” on March 9, 2019 presenting works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, who was deeply influenced by Beethoven.
Beethoven’s final quartet, String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135, arranged for String Orchestra, will open the program. This work is rarely performed with a full string orchestra, with the most famous version performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Prince’s teacher and mentor.
Written in 1826, this is Beethoven’s last major completed work before his death in 1827. The four movements offer what critics have called “the most dizzying, daunting passages Beethoven ever wrote.” “The work is particularly well suited to expansion to a full string orchestra, and especially to a smaller orchestra like the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra, which preserves the intimate character of the work,” said Prince.
Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, will complete the program. Composed in 1883, it is the shortest and most tightly knit of Brahms’ works. For all its subtleties, the work is full of his trademark passion, glorious melodies and rich harmonic writing. “This is arguably Brahms’ greatest work,” said Prince. “I’ve conducted it many times but never with the Plainfield Symphony, and I’m thrilled to be doing it now.”
Celebrating its 100th anniversary, the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra is New Jersey’s oldest community symphony and the third oldest continuously operating community symphony in the United States. The Plainfield Symphony Orchestra represents the highest standard in musical excellence in programs designed to educate and uplift local audiences. Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through a grant administered by the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs. Additional funding has been received from a 2018 HEART (History, Education, Arts Reaching Thousands) Grant from the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.