Father and son duo Stefan and Alexander Hersh of Chicago come to center stage for the DuPage Symphony's February concert, with Johannes Brahms’ sweepingly melodic, intensely concentrated Double Concerto in A minor for Violin and Cello. The piece was written for Brahms' long time but then estranged friend and collaborator, the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim, as a deliberate attempt to pay homage and make amends to a cherished colleague. The massive concerto is complemented by the American composer Randall Thompson's Symphony No. 2, a large-scale, brightly colorful work written in 1931. In this rhythmically engaging, melodically appealing four-movement symphony, Thompson follows a compositional path similar to that of Brahms by fusing a classical approach to form and content with elements of both nationalism and personal melodic style.
Father and son duo Stefan and Alexander Hersh of Chicago come to center stage for the DuPage Symphony's February concert, with Johannes Brahms’ sweepingly melodic, intensely concentrated Double Concerto in A minor for Violin and Cello. The piece was written for Brahms' long time but then estranged friend and collaborator, the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim, as a deliberate attempt to pay homage and make amends to a cherished colleague. The massive concerto is complemented by the American composer Randall Thompson's Symphony No. 2, a large-scale, brightly colorful work written in 1931. In this rhythmically engaging, melodically appealing four-movement symphony, Thompson follows a compositional path similar to that of Brahms by fusing a classical approach to form and content with elements of both nationalism and personal melodic style.