Hans Graf, Houston Symphony conductor laureate, embraces the wide variety of classical music. “If you are Russian, you shouldn’t only play Tchaikovsky’s music,” Graf said. “The world is much too international for that.”
Former music director Graf returns to Houston for a night of German and French works, including Hindemith’s Konzertmusik for String and Brass; the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by Lise de la Salle; and Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, the Rhenish, in a program called Graf Conducts Schumann.
“This symphony is special — it’s very German in that it is very emotional but held back and stylish,” Graf said. Schumann wrote the work after seeing the construction site for the Cologne Cathedral in Germany’s Rhineland; he was so inspired that he completed it in only a month.
“Schumann wanted to create modestly heroic music — noble music,” Graf said. “The work is proud but not bragging. Friendly, even.”
If you listen closely, you can hear the solemn tones of religious song that Schumann mimicked in the piece. However, Schumann believed that music should be beautiful and meaningful without any extra musical associations.
“The symphony avoids being flashy and wants to be introverted. The second slow movement is songlike, almost an intermezzo. You could add text to it and it would fit in with Schumann’s piano songs,” Graf said.
Graf said he knows audiences want loud, flashy endings to symphonies, but the Rhenish ends as it began — introspective and confident.
8 p.m. February 20 and 21; 2:30 p.m. February 22. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana. For information, call 713-224- 7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org. $25 to $125.
Fri., Feb. 20, 8 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 21, 8 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 22, 2:30 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2015.