Mira Yevtich (piano) and Nicholas Angelich (piano)

1776 was a bumper year for Mozart in terms of concerti – for piano, for strings and also for three pianos and orchestra. In the case of the last, the work was commissioned by the Countess Lodron (neé d’Arco) so she could perform it with her daughters Aloysia and Giuseppa. For the three ladies Mozart wrote an utterly idyllic and serene work about how logical and harmonious everything in life is (or at least in the house of the beautiful Countess).
Soon the composer himself arranged the triple concerto for two pianos. Thus emerged the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra No 7 in F Major, K. 242. It was not a hard task to arrange the piece as even in the initial version the dialogue essentially unfolds between two instruments (this was probably because of the abilities of the performers in the ensemble). Making full use of the colouristic possibilities of several pianos, for the accompaniment Mozart selected as small an orchestra as possible – strings, two oboes and two French horns.
It is difficult for two or three soloists to improvise cadenzas, and so in this concerto Mozart wrote them himself. If it were not for this concerto, we would never have known what kind of cadenzas Mozart himself improvised at the age of twenty.
Anna Bulycheva

Raskatov’s concerto Gens extorris deals with the problem of relationships between different peoples – from Biblical times to the present day (Jews in Palestine, Palestinians in Israel, the Basque people in Spain and Serbs in Kosovo and Croatia). The title of the concerto translated from the Latin as “People in Exile”, but in the music there is no contradiction of themes in national terms. Quite the reverse, these themes depict characteristics and traits typical of the mentality and folklore of various ethnic groups. The composer consciously set himself limits, striving to express deep meaning through miserly means. The expansive first section represents the path of sorrow and wrath, lamentation and suffering. The brief second section is a bleak apotheosis.

Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto is one of the composer’s most important works. Its unique nature lies in the three movements it consists of are joined by a scherzo. The concerto thus took on the form and scale of a grandiose romantic symphony. At the same time, it rose to a higher rank in terms of the hierarchy of genres, serving not as a demonstration of virtuoso technique and for the public’s enjoyment but as an expression of mankind’s widely-held beliefs.
Brahms’ First Symphony was referred to as “Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony”. His piano concerti also follow Beethoven’s traditions. Second Concerto is a classical work in every sense of the word. The composer dedicated the Concerto to his teacher Eduard Marxsen. Officially, it was premiered on 9 November 1881 in Budapest, while an unofficial first performance had taken place somewhat earlier in Meiningen, where Hans von Bülow, the outstanding conductor and Brahms’ friend, had given him the chance to “try out” his new works with an orchestra. The Second Concerto instantly won popularity and the composer himself performed it twenty-two times in the course of just the three months in various countries.
Anna Bulycheva