Cancelled
Ivo Pogorelich
Photo: Andrej Grilc
A sensation returns
Unfortunately, this concert has to be canceled due to illness. Everyone who has bought a ticket will be contacted and get a refund.
Cult pianist Ivo Pogorelich is returning to Norway for the first time in over 20 years, ready to show how the piano was meant to be played.
Since his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1981, Pogorelich has set a whole new standard for piano interpretations and has been declared a genius due to his technique, originality and eccentricity. During his guest performance at the Oslo Opera House, he will be treating the audience to piano works by Prokofiev, Ravel, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms.
A kaleidoscope of emotions
The concert opens with Prokofiev’s touching Scene of Farewell from Romeo and Juliet, followed by Ravel’s Prelude in A Minor. The prelude was originally composed for an audition at the Conservatory in Paris in 1913: the students had never heard it before, so they had to follow the complicated hand movements while at the same time reading directly from the sheet music. The piano instructors continue to use the piece for the same purpose to this very day – but with a focus on having the students practice communicating the tenderness in the melody.
We will also be hearing Schubert’s Moments Musicaux. Schubert mostly wrote long works, but switched to piano miniatures towards the end of his life. Even at their most dramatic, these works are simultaneously intimate and mysterious and create a kaleidoscope of emotions in all their simplicity.
Milestones from a musical friendship
After the intermission, the programme will continue with two musical milestones: Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, posthumous variations and Brahms’ virtuoso Variations on a Theme of Paganini, considered one of the most difficult works a pianist can undertake.
And as far as the symphonic etudes are concerned, Brahms also had a hand in the matter, as he was the one to have them published after Schumann’s death.