The Emily and Eugene Grant Opening Series

Jaime Laredo, conducting

All-orchestral opener

Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte

Haydn: Symphony No. 103 (“Drumroll”)

Brahms: Symphony No. 1

Just the title of Ravel’s “Pavane for a dead infant” creates a heart-wrenching contrast to its pure, sublime beauty. “Drumroll,” one of Haydn’s final three symphonies, shows the composer at the very peak of his already formidable powers. The mysterious timpani roll gives it its name. The triumph of Brahms’ First Symphony is belied by the 22 years (by some counts) that he took to compose it, so enthralled was he in the shadow of Beethoven…a shadow he quickly erased with this towering work.