Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Milestones in music - "When you conduct an orchestra as great as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, you think big," says Vasily Petrenko, who has been Chief Conductor of the traditional London orchestra since 2021. Accordingly, the program selection for the RPO's return to Freiburg was based on milestones in music history - above all Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth, the epic battle from darkness into light. Sergei Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto, a work of singularly eruptive power, is also considered titanic - all the more exciting when this keyboard lion's paradise now reveals its hidden lyrical and tonal layers in the hands of Jan Lisiecki. The Canadian pianist with Polish roots is known as a finesse player with an extraordinarily differentiated touch who does not consume repertoire, but penetrates it. He possesses strength and stamina as well as the ability to use virtuosity without athletic self-expression. The fact that Lisiecki took his time to get to Prokofiev was a conscious decision.

"I enjoy working on composers whose musical language is perhaps not yet mine," he explained in an interview. "The most recent example of this is Prokofiev. Now I'm enjoying this music incredibly." And there is a lot to enjoy: from chasing motor skills to neoclassical austerity and late Romantic floating sounds to the most monumental solo cadenza of classical modernism. The programmatic arc closes with Beethoven's Fifth - a work that stands for departure, perseverance and triumphant culmination like no other. Music in which the orchestra and conductor really have to "think big".

Program:
Butterworth, A Shropshire Lad - Rhapsody for Orchestra
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor op. 16
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67

Instrumentation:
Jan Lisiecki, piano
Vasily Petrenko, conductor
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

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Jan Lisiecki | Photo © Ksawery-Zamoyski