NJArts.net profiles the New Jersey Symphony’s upcoming performances of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra
The New Jersey Symphony is set to perform Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra this weekend in Newark, Princeton, Red Bank and New Brunswick in consecutive performances that will also feature conductor Markus Stenz leading the Symphony in Farrenc’s Overture No. 1 in E Minor and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring pianist Albert Cano Smit. Courtney Smith of NJArts.net recently met with some of the musicians to ask them about their thoughts about the piece and their upcoming performances of it.
“In the Concerto, Bartók gives you a lot of details and information about how he’s expecting you are going to approach this,” says Robert Wagner, New Jersey Symphony’s principal bassoon. “He really wanted to feature all of the instruments in a way that was challenging to us and to himself.” ... “The Concerto is deeply Hungarian in its uses of rhythm and the melodic elements,” says Spitz. “And with that is this wonderful modernism and brilliant compositional technique and, of course, Bartók’s use of the orchestra.”
Robert Wagner and Jonathan Spitz to Courtney Smith of NJArts.net