Oleg Ptashnikov Igor Levit Robert Schumann Johannes Brahms by Verdi, Schumann, Brahms, Van (2024/2024), Dirigent Oleg Ptashnikov, Oslo Concert Hall, Oslo, Noorwegen

Igor Levit is the soloist in Robert Schumann’s most famous piece and one of the 19th century’s most popular solo concertos: Piano Concerto in A minor. Oleg Ptashnikov also conducts music by Hector Berlioz and Johannes Brahms. Due to illness, Elim Chan has had to withdraw from this concert and will be replaced by Oleg Ptashnikov. As a result, Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé and Noriko Koide's Swaddling Silk & Gossamer Rain will be replaced with Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 2. «... I have already told you that I can not write a concerto for virtuosos and must think of something else,» wrote Robert Schumann (1810-1856) to his fiancé Clara Wieck in 1939. He had already begun working on four different piano concertos without being able to finish them. But Clara—who became Clara Schumann the year after and was one of Europe's best pianists—kept encouraging her husband to write for piano and orchestra. After a few years of new attempts in smaller formats, Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor saw the light of day in 1845. Schumann's Piano Concerto has since become his most famous work and the most played piano concerto from the Romantic period. As a 15-year-old, Edvard Grieg experienced hearing Clara Schumann as the soloist in the piece, and it became the model for his own piano concerto a few years later. The concert opens with the overture Le Corsaire (in english, The Pirate) from 1844 by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) He considered naming the exuberant piece “The Red Pirate” after J.F. Cooper's novel. The Pirate by Lord Byron was also one of Berlioz’ favorite stories.