In November, the Primorsky Stage audiences will have a chance to hear works by Sergei Rachmaninoff performed by Denis Matsuev and the the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev (November 29, 30). Compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven (November 12) and Johannes Brahms (November 10) will be presented by the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage conducted by Pavel Smelkov, with Peter Laul (piano) acting as a soloist in one of the concerts.
The performance by this prominent representative of the St Petersburg piano school together with the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage will be the first out of a series of large-scale symphonic programmes to be presented this month (November 10). The works performed will include Symphony No. 1 and Piano Concerto No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.
On the next day (November 11), at the Chamber Hall of the Primorsky Stage, Peter Laul will give a piano recital, which will open with Sonata No. 11 by Ludwig van Beethoven. The musician’s repertoire includes all the composer’s 32 sonatas - a challenge that only a real master can meet. The evening programme also features works by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel.
On 12 November, the Chorus and the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage will be playing Symphony No.9 by Ludwig van Beethoven. That was the first time that the composer had welcomed the sound of the human voice into a Symphony to express its philosophic concept. This move pushed the boundaries of art and left the first audiences and the composer’s contemporaries dumbfounded. For the composer, creation of the Finale of Symphony No. 9 was the crowning work, the result of many years of his attempts to write music for for Schiller’s An die Freude (Ode to joy).
The centrepiece of the November musical playbill will be the Rachmaninoff Cycle on November 29 and 30 when the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev will be joined by Denis Matsuev to perform all works for piano and orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
