About this concert
Víkingur Ólafsson made a big impression with his 2021 Concertgebouw Orchestra debut performing Mozart, hailed as refined and adventurous in equal measure. The Concertgebouw Orchestra was quick to invite him back to perform Grieg on its Opening Night 2022. Now you won’t want to miss the ‘Icelandic Glenn Gould’ performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, also known as the ‘Emperor’ because of its grand scale and heroic character. After a few bars from the orchestra, the piano comes storming in, after which both soloist and orchestra engage in a ruthless battle that is decided only in the fiery finale, complete with hunting theme. Santtu-Matias Rouvali begins the concert light-heartedly with the Divertimento for strings by the prominent Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz.
After the interval, it’s time for Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. Rage, tragedy and fathomless grief lead to a triumph in this powerful work. The composer himself claimed that he wrote the symphony ‘to glorify the grandeur of the human spirit’. With the biting sarcasm of the second movement, the heart-wrenching Adagio and the exuberant finale, it is a work which embodies great contrasts and is imbued with a purifying influence for many listeners.
A work which embodies great contrasts, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony is imbued with a purifying influence for many listeners.
