Over a century apart, Brahms and Rzewski both create vast landscapes from simple musical statements. These two monumental epics each encompass the whole range of musical experience. Brahms looks deeply into the past for both his theme (borrowed from Handel) and his fugal conclusion, while Rzewski takes his theme from the headlines of the day in a tribute to the revolutionary movements of the 1970s, and creates a form both modern and metaphorical.

Stephen Drury’s performances and recording of Rzewski’s variations are legendary. Having worked frequently with the composer, Drury brings intellectual discipline to the music’s vast structure, technical authority to its ferociously virtuosic writing, and emotional immediacy to its heart-breaking narrative. The theme, known throughout Latin America as a rallying cry for social justice, serves as the seed from which Rzewski creates the widest imaginable range of personal experiences, tender, melodic, violent, jazzy, and inspiring, uniting them all in the end through his commanding structure.

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Works to be performed on the “Brahms & Rzewski: Variations” program include:

Brahms, Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24
Rzewski, “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” – 36 Variations on ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!