Beethoven, Bartok

Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73” is popularly known as the “Emperor Concerto.” It was his last completed piano concerto written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna. It could be considered either the last great concerto in the classical style or, because of its immensely powerful gestures, the first of the great 19th-century romantic concertos.

Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra” is his most popular work, due in large part to the directness of its language. As the title suggests, the concerto treats the various sections and solo instruments of the orchestra as if they were protagonists in a concerto. It is a five-movement orchestral work composed in 1943.

Qian Junping will wield the baton at the concert.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 16

Tickets: 180-880 yuan

Reinecke, Dvorák, Taffanel

Reinecke’s “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in D Major, Op. 283” shows the German composer at his best, and provides a milder taste of the brackish waters of the early 20th century, where traditionalism still mixed with post-romanticism and emerging modernism.

Reinecke was a virtuoso pianist and teacher. But this concerto stands as perhaps the only Romantic flute concerto still in the repertory.

Dvorák composed “Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88” in 1889 when he had just been elected to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and the Arts, and spent just a bit over two months writing a symphony to express his gratitude and pleasure in receiving the honor.

In contrast with the stormy Romanticism of his previous symphony, “No. 8” is bright and optimistic in tone, suffused with the lilt of his beloved Bohemia. The sounds of the countryside are never far from Dvorák’s music.

Taffanel’s “Fantasie on Der Freischutz” is based on Carl Maria von Weber’s extremely popular opera. In this intelligent and well-constructed homage to Weber’s lovely and stirring music, the variations seem to grow naturally from the melodies rather than being superimposed as a virtuosic afterthought, demonstrating the operatic fantasy genre at its best.

Liu Ming will wield the baton and flautists Min Ruofan and Zhang Bile will be soloists at the concert.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 30

Tickets: 280-880 yuan

Venue: Longgang Cultural Center (龙岗文化中心)

Metro: Line 3 to Longcheng Square Station (龙城广场站), Exit D(SD News)