Following their successful tour with Bach’s piano concertos, this time the virtuosic piano brothers perform works by Schubert and their colleague Fazıl Say. Amsterdam Sinfonietta combines this with music by Pärt and Mahler.
Specially for Lucas and Arthur Jussen, and jointly commissioned by Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Turkish composer and pianist Fazıl Say composed Anka Kuşu (Phoenix), based on the Simurgh, the Persian mythical bird that displays similarities with the fabulous Western creature, the Phoenix. The virtuosic piano concerto is imbued with oriental rhythms. The concert opens with These words… by Arvo Pärt. This prayer is intended to turn people away from committing crime and persuade them not to give in to human weaknesses. Amsterdam Sinfonietta concludes the programme with the imposing Adagio from Gustav Mahler’s Tenth Symphony in a new version for string orchestra by Primo Ish-Hurwitz. Mahler’s final, incomplete work is a song of pain and despair about the infidelity of his young wife Alma.
“You realise that this is not usual. They are not just two good pianists playing together. They sense each other’s most small, individual little bit of interpretation.”
– Sir Neville Marriner