Bartók, Escaich, Stravinsky

Naturally, we cannot say anything about the concerto that Thierry Escaich is writing because he is still working on it, but we know that Escaich is an outstanding composer, an exceptional organist, the author of several organ concertos, and a fascinating improviser. It would be hard for me to compare Escaich’s organ playing with anything else because it departs so widely from the usual idea of what that instrument can do. And that applies doubly to his improvising, which I have been fortunate enough to witness several times. Sometimes he improvises on his own solo concertos as an encore, and that is always an unforgettable experience. Escaich is just as original as a composer, so I am convinced that his new concerto played by the winner of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, will truly be a musical event.

Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin and Stravinsky’s Petrushka, the first and last works on the programme, were both major events of their own kind at the time of their premières, which occurred at nearly the same time. Both compositions embody something unparalleled in earlier music, and both caused a bit of a scandal at their premières. I say “a bit” because any reaction by the public and critics seems quite peaceable in comparison with the tsunami unleashed by the première of The Rite of Spring. I think the combination of The Miraculous Mandarin and Petrushka will make a revelatory, refreshing impression, and quite a theatrical evening awaits us because both works were originally ballet music.

Semyon Bychkov