Rachmaninoff Festival II

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Image courtesy of L'Auditori

This concert closes the cycle dedicated to the last of the symphonists of the great Russian tradition. Under the influence of the piano concertos of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Frédéric Chopin and Edvard Grieg, and with the intention of demonstrating an extraordinary technical brilliance within the reach of the composer’s interpretive abilities, the Piano Concerto no. 1 is one of Rachmaninoff's prime works. Dissatisfied with his effort—a characteristic of a composer who was just beginning to write—he completely revised it in 1917 and in doing so achieved the form in which it is performed today.

The Piano Concerto no. 3 is one of the favorite works from his piano repertoire due to the high technical demands of the score. It was premiered by the composer in New York in 1909 under the direction of Walter Damrosch and later was often conducted by Gustav Mahler. The concert combines passages imbued with a deep Russian solemnity with bursts of ecstatic vitality.

If Rachmaninoff’s music is a projection of the Romantic spirit inherited from the 19th-century tradition, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich set out from a radically different and groundbreaking conception, and here lay the groundwork for what would be the music conceived under the auspices of the Russian Revolution.

Program

• Sergei Prokofiev: L'amour des trois oranges (The Love for Three Oranges), Op. 31bis. Opera suite (1919; rev. 1924) 16'
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 (1924-25) 28'
• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1 (1890-1891; rev. 1919) 27' (Friday and Saturday)
• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (1909) 39' (Sunday)

Performers

• Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC)
• Denis Kozhukhin, piano
• Kazushi Ono, conductor

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