Music and context

The fires near Nelson continue to dominate the news. The family of my concert seat neighbour were told to evacuate yesterday. She has been staying with a friend for some days. Last night she arrived at the concert saying " My neighbour emailed to say 'I hope you took your valuables', but what is valuable?'

The fires are making the context of the music we are hearing seem even more pertinent. Prokofiev writing in 1932, Bartok in 1916. You hear it in their music. The music curators included a very worthwhile session in the program explaining Bartok. I found it very useful hearing Vârjon explain the dissonances in Bartok's music and their relationship to the time in which it was written.

Várjon plays Bartok