Programme
- Be Still
- Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor
- Symphony No. 4, âThe Inextinguishableâ
Performers
- JukkaâPekka Sarasteconductor
- Denis Kozhukhinpiano
Concert Information
Sergei Prokofiev wrote his second piano concerto in 1912-1913 while still a student at the St Petersburg conservatory and premiered it with himself as soloist. The work was dedicated to his friend and fellow student Maximilian Schmidthof who took his own life just as Prokofiev was completing the score. Itâs a work which makes fierce technical demands on the soloist - not least in the workâs cadenzas.
In neutral Denmark during the First World War, Carl Nielsen, looked on in horror as Europe was torn apart. The composerâs Symphony No. 4 erupts in violence, forcing two sets of drums to tear into one another from either side of a fissile orchestra. Before that we enter an oasis of calm courtesy of composer Daniel Kidane, whose Be Still is a reflection on a common experience of spring 2020 in which time itself appeared to stand still.
Nikolai Luganskyâs performance has been postponed and the ±«Óătv SO is grateful to Denis Kozhukhin for stepping in at short notice. Prokofievâs Piano Concerto No. 2 replaces Medtnerâs Piano Concerto No. 2.