Gala Inaugural Concert
Rudolfinum, 1 October 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Petr Popelka – conductor
Gabriela Montero – piano
The Gala Inaugural Concert saw the first performance of the season's artist-in-residence, Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero. "Her playing has everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power in climactic moments, soulful lyricism in the ruminative passages and, best of all, unsentimental expressivity," wrote the New York Times. Together, Montero and the radio symphony orchestra performed one of the most popular works of classical music of all time, the melodic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in B-flat minor by Russian romantic composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The designated chief conductor of the Radio Symphony Petr Popelka also choose Russian music for the second half of the programme. Sergei Rachmaninoff, known today mainly as a composer of music for piano, also wrote impressive orchestral works. The composer of three symphonies and symphonic poems completed his last major work, Symphonic Dances, in 1940. A work full of energetic dance rhythms, imaginative instrumentation and deep nostalgia, it is now part of the repertoire and of all the world's orchestras, and a perfect ending to an evening of PRSO.
