Town and Country

Masterworks 3 explores music that searches for peace—whether in the bustling city or the serene countryside. Copland’s Quiet City paints an introspective, nocturnal portrait of urban solitude, while Beethoven’s beloved Pastorale Symphony evokes the joys of nature, from tranquil streams to a dramatic summer storm and a grateful hymn of thanksgiving. Between them, Paul Frucht’s Finding Religion, inspired by a song of Charles Ives, reflects on the complexities of faith and human yearning. Our own concertmaster, Leonid Sigal, and audience favorite, cellist Julian Schwarz, bring this moving double concerto to life in a program that speaks to the beauty and contradictions of the human spirit.