Vadym Kholodenko Performs Mozart & Rzewski by Mozart, Rzewski, dim. 14 avr. 2024, Du (2024/2024), Southbank Centre, Londres, Royaume-Uni

The virtuoso pianist presents an unusual recital of two halves: Mozart’s Requiem transcribed for piano and Rzewski’s resistance anthem. Winner of the 2014 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko devotes his concert to two vast, extraordinary works – spanning a narrative from grief to resistance that connects deeply with the spirit of his home country. He performs Mozart’s Requiem in a little-known, grand-scale transcription by Karl Klindworth, a pupil of Franz Liszt, who managed to encapsulate the beauty and magnificence of the work for chorus and orchestra on the piano alone. The recital’s other half consists of Frederic Rzewski’s 36 Variations on ‘The People United Will Never Be Defeated!’, the American composer’s ear-boggling transformation of Sergio Ortega’s Chilean resistance anthem. This truly iconic piece has become the late 20th century’s successor to the giant variation sets of Beethoven and Bach.