Program
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for Piano and Orchestra in A minor, op. 43 (1934)
Soloist – Eva Gevorgyan, piano
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op. 64 (1888)
Andante — Allegro con anima
Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza
Valse. Allegro moderato
Finale. Andante maestoso — Allegro vivace
Performers:
The musicAeterna Orchestra
Conductor Teodor Currentzis
Details
The musicAeterna Orchestra conducted by Teodor Currentzis will perform Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Both works are underpinned by the same theme — man in the face of inexorable destiny.
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is Sergei Rachmaninoff’s late masterpiece, the pinnacle of his music from the American period. The composer wrote the Rhapsody incredibly quickly, just in a month and a half in the summer of 1934. In his 24 variations on the themes of Niccolò Paganini’s 24th Caprice, the composer does not merely follow Liszt and Brahms, who also addressed this material. He enters into a dialogue with the entire romantic tradition, juxtaposing the iconic theme of Paganini with another theme equally widely used in the 19th century — the medieval sequence Dies irae, and saturates the score with musical symbols of the 20th century — jazz rhythms and urban motorics. Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody is often referred to as his Piano Concerto No. 5. The structure of the musical work resembles a symphonic cycle, where explosive emotions and intense thematic development serve a single purpose. The composer created a strikingly vivid and eloquent statement about the diabolical nature of the entire 20th century and the irrepressible longing for the homeland — that Russia which no longer existed.
In May 1888, a sketch of the programme for the Symphony No. 5 appeared in Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s notebook: ‘Utter veneration of fate, or, what is the same thing, of the inscrutable destiny of providence… Murmurings, doubts, complaints, reproaches…’ The romantic conflict, which is interpreted in one way or another by all the mature symphonies of the master, was particularly clearly expressed in the Symphony No. 5. The ‘theme of fate’, stated in the funeral introduction, runs as a leitmotif through all parts of the cycle, appearing in various guises in the delightfully melodious Andante cantabile, and in the whimsical Valse of the third movement, and, of course, in the Finale. The crushingly victorious sound of the ‘theme of fate’ at the end of the symphony has been interpreted ambivalently for more than a century — either as the victory of man over fate, or as the triumph of invincible fate. Perhaps here Tchaikovsky was the first to feel the ambivalence characteristic of Shostakovich’s symphonic finales.
The piano part in the programme will be performed by the young Russian-Armenian pianist Eva Gevorgyan. The winner of more than 40 international competitions and a laureate of numerous prestigious awards, she studies simultaneously at the Moscow State Conservatory and the Queen Sofía Higher School of Music in Madrid, at the same time pursuing a brilliant international career, collaborating with leading conductors and orchestras in Russia and worldwide, and performing at major concert venues.