Thursday 11 April 2019

Rakhmaninov's romantic and captivating third piano concerto and Stravinsky's powerful sacred work for choir and orchestra, and a capella hymn singing provide a good introduction to Easter.

Rakhmaninov's masterpiece is perhaps the most demanding of all romantic piano concertos to play. It is also one of the most captivating from the start, with its beautiful theme that begins with the soloist and is then taken over and developed by the orchestra. The soloist in Rakhmaninov's piano concerto is Lise de la Salle, who in a short time has established herself as one of today's most exciting young pianists.

Although Stravinsky was raised within the Russian Orthodox faith, it took a long time before he wrote religious music. Only in 1930, perhaps influenced by guilt for his own actions, did he compose the Psalm Symphony, a powerful and sacred work for choir and orchestra.

The Edvard Grieg Choir together with the Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Choir opens the concert with a Russian Easter hymn which probably both Stravinsky and Rakhmaninov knew, and which perhaps inspired Rakhmaninov to the main theme of his third piano concerto.

"Alexander Gavrylyuk is, easily, the most compelling pianist of his generation", Limelight

The concerts are organized with generous support from the Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Foundation.

Thierry Fischer, conductor
Lise de la Salle, piano
Bergen Philharmonic Chorus
Edvard Grieg Choir
Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Choir
Håkon Matti Skrede, chorus master
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Russian Orthodox Easter Hymn: Grob tvoi, Spase
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms