Concert per a piano de Chopin

A programme featuring Smetana's symphonic poem Vltava, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3, performed by the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya with pianist David Khrikuli and conductor Cristian Măcelaru.

The programme brings together three works from different traditions. It opens with Má vlast's Vltava, the symphonic poem by Bedřich Smetana that traces the course of the river from its source to its arrival in Prague, with nocturnal episodes and peasant dances.

Next comes Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, with its lyrical writing. It is the Polish composer's second foray into this genre, although the numbering by which it is known has become the popular one. At the piano, David Khrikuli combines cantabile passages with moments of expansion, while the orchestra accompanies and paints broad soundscapes.

The second half is devoted to Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3, which has a post-Romantic character and was composed during his exile in the United States. Its language expresses nostalgia, while also opening up to a luminous atmosphere. Cristian Măcelaru conducts the orchestra.