Bach/Webern                 Ricercare
Mozart                            Piano Concerto No. 21
Prokofiev                       Symphony No. 5

DANIELE RUSTIONI               CONDUCTOR
FEDERICO COLLI                   PIANO

‘Ricercare’ means ‘to seek’ and Webern’s interpretation of Bach is very much the 20^th Century composer seeking to understand the musical techniques at play in the 18^th Century, resulting in an elegant reimagining of Bach’s original. Concert soloist Federico Colli delves even deeper in his preparation for performing Mozart, exploring the context and ‘zeitgeist’ for each of Mozart’s works, which results in a really rather special interpretation. The gently pulsating slow movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 will be instantly recognisable, as its regular use in films such as Superman Returns, The Spy Who Loved Me and Elvira Madigan (the source of its unofficial nickname) has given it huge popular fame.

Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony was written during World War II and had its première in 1945 with artillery firing outside the Moscow concert hall. It’s difficult not to hear echoes of the War in this dramatic, jagged and sometimes anguished work, though Prokofiev claimed the work was a ‘hymn to the human spirit’ and it ends on a riotously optimistic note.