Concert Programme
A. Rubinstein. Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, op. 25
L. van Beethoven. Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92
The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, led by artistic director and chief conductor maestro Gintaras Rinkevičius, together with piano virtuoso Alexander Paley, presents an exceptional concert series: five special evenings featuring all the concertos for piano and orchestra written by one of the most famous piano virtuosos, composers and educators of the 19 th century, Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894).
Born into a Jewish family in Moldova, A. Rubinstein received his first piano lessons from his mother. A little later, he was discovered and taught by the famous pianist and pedagogue Alexander Villoing. At the age of 9, A. Rubinstein gave his first public performances, and at the age of 11 he performed in Paris for Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Felix Mendelssohn. In 1854, at the age of 24, A. Rubinstein went on a four-year concert tour in Europe, during which he quickly established himself as a fully mature piano virtuoso and a widely respected composer. Ignaz Moscheles wrote after one of the concerts on this tour what later became a universal opinion of A. Rubinstein: “In his power and performance, he is second to none”. This evening, A. Paley will begin the Rubinstein concert series with the composer’s First Concerto, dedicated to A. Rubinstein's main piano teacher A. Villoing. Written in 1850, the Concerto is considered the most traditional of the five, but at the same time retains A. Rubinstein”s characteristic virtuosity of the piano part.
The second part of the concert will feature Ludwig van Beethoven's (1770–1827) Seventh Symphony. The work’s premiere in Vienna in 1813 left no one indifferent – critics called the symphony “one of the most melodically rich, attractive and understandable” of L. van Beethoven's symphonies. The Seventh Symphony is a vivid example of L. van Beethoven's vitality – despite the composer's impending deafness, the work is permeated with unfading enthusiasm and optimism.