MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2019
7:30 PM

Mahan Esfahani & Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan

$30-$66
https://www.92y.org/event/orpheus-chamber-orchestra-mahan-esfahani

This concert is a big deal because it features a major major harpsichordist playing two 20th Century harpsichord concertos that you never ever get a chance to hear live.  Falla's concerto (usually heard on piano when you can hear it at all) is surprisingly dense and challenging, but very appealing.  The harpsichord concerto by this List's adored Martinu is pure tangy pleasure.  The rest of the concert is rounded out by some arrangements:  Françaix's arrangement of Mozart's extremely charming quintet for piano and winds with the piano part transposed to a string quartet, a not-bad (and very French) idea; and Modern Australian Brett Dean's arrangement of Strauss's orchestral showpiece Till Eulenspiegel for nonet, about which one can only ask:  why????????

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  Italian charmer Sfoglia used to be just wonderful.  Now it's just kind of good.  It's still conveniently diagonally across the street from the 92nd Street Y, though.