Wed 1/17 & Thu 1/18 @ 7:30PM
Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev takes center stage this week at Severance Music Center, when the Cleveland Orchestra bookends its program with two of his seven symphonies: his second, which debuted in 1925, and his fifth, written in 1945, just eight years before he died in Moscow, where he returned for good after spending nearly two decades living mostly in the U.S. France and Germany. He died, alas, on the same day as Stalin, which disrupted his funeral. However, his long-term reputation is certainly more positive than Stalin’s!
Austrian composer Anton Webern’s only symphony, written in 1927-28 and incorporating his atonal, twelve-tone practice, will be played between them for contrast. Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst will be back on the podium. Get tickets here.