About this concert
Mitsuko Uchida is an uncontested authority as an interpreter of the Viennese classics. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is an early work performed less frequently than his subsequent piano concertos. In no other work can we hear the influences of both Haydn and Mozart on Beethoven as clearly as in this concerto full of light-hearted and surprising inventions. It’s the perfect showcase for Mitsuko Uchida’s stylistically pure pianism. We are very much looking forward to working with her again since our last collaboration over eight years ago.
Vladimir Jurowski opens the programme with the Overture to 'L'isola disabilitata' by Beethoven’s teacher Joseph Haydn. A typical 'Sturm und Drang' work full of drama and contrasts, it clearly foreshadows Beethoven. Some 100 years later in the Vienna of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, Anton Bruckner composed his Symphony No. 3. However, this work seems to be from an entirely different world: epic, mesmerising and at times utterly overwhelming. Bruckner dedicated the symphony to Richard Wagner, whose operas he held in the highest regard. Although he had no theatrical ambitions of his own, there is no shortage of drama in the symphony. This is also music composed by a perfectionist – Bruckner made no fewer than six versions before he was satisfied with it.
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is the perfect showcase for Mitsuko Uchida’s stylistically pure pianism.
