STRAVINSKY  Le sacre du printemps

Stravinsky’s faux-primitive evocation of pagan rituals in his native Russia has lost none of its power to shock and awe since its legendary first performance in 1913. Like the composer’s own two-piano arrangement, Martin Grubinger Sr.’s arrangement emphasizes the ballet’s pounding, sharply etched rhythms.

BARTÓK  Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

The unusual scoring of this exhilarating work reflects Bartók’s fondness for lean textures, propulsive rhythms, and terse, shapely melodies. Yet much of the music has an orchestral opulence, a quality accentuated in Bartók’s arrangement of the work as a two-piano concerto. We hear the New York premiere of Martin Grubinger Sr.’s arrangement for one piano and percussion on this evening’s program.

JOHN PSATHAS  One Study

The music of New Zealand composer John Psathas is characterized by rhythmic intensity, repetitive patterns, and a quasi-improvisational feeling. The virtuoso piece One Study One Summary for live performer and digital audio was written in 2005 for Portuguese percussionist Pedro Carneiro and has since been taken up by percussionists around the world. We hear the first movement of the work on this evening’s program.

ARTURO MÁRQUEZ  Danzón No. 2

Mexican composer Arturo Márquez describes the slow, formal danzón as “a genre which old Mexican people continue to dance with a touch of nostalgia and a jubilant escape towards their own emotional world.” This colorful evocation of the dance, originally scored for full orchestra, has been popularized by conductor Gustavo Dudamel.