Variations with Orchestra

JOHANNES BRAHMS – Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83
EDWARD ELGAR – Variations on an Original Theme Enigma, Op. 36

The Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society presents Italian pianist Pina Napolitano, who attracted international attention in 2012 with the release of her debut recording featuring complete piano works by Arnold Schönberg (Odradek Records). Her other striking album (Brahms the Progressive) was released in 2016. In this recording, the pianist offered a very original juxtaposition of the late works of romanticist Brahms and dodecaphonic works of the representatives of the Second Viennese School (Schönberg, Webern, Berg). It is the works of the latter composers that the pianist focuses mainly on in her repertoire, and this allows a completely different, new look at the piano music of previous epochs, such as Romanticism or Classicism. It is no coincidence that Napolitano will offer the Lithuanian audience the Second Piano Concerto of one of her coryphées, Brahms, which she plans to perform in Spain before her appearance in Vilnius, and later intends to make a recording with Lithuanian musicians.

Another composition in tonight’s programme is the symphonic variations by the English romanticist Edward Elgar. In the epigraph the composer indicated that he dedicates this opus to his friends. This is one of Elgar’s biggest and most significant orchestral works. The variations are special in that the composer, like Robert Schumann, marked each of them with the initials of his friends and thus created original musical portraits. The theme itself is also concealed, it is a mystery of every variation and the whole orchestral cycle. Hence the title Enigma (mystery).