© Zani Casadio

Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI
conductor Juraj Valčuha
piano David Fray

Robert Schumann
Concert for piano and orchestra in A minor, op. 54

Richard Strauss
“Eine Alpensinfonie”, poema sinfonico op. 64


“Concerning the concerto, I’ve already told you it is a compromise between a symphony, a concerto, and a huge sonata.” Schumann penned these words in 1839 in a letter to his wife, Clara Wieck, about his Concerto in A minor. This dense score was a long time in the making (it was only completed in 1845), and shows the composer’s typical shifting moods and formal anxieties to overcome traditional models. As in the first movement, opening with an energetic strike by the orchestra followed by a fierce attack by the piano, now left to the interpretive skills of Frenchman David Fray. The RAI Orchestra, under the baton its Slovak conductor for several years now, will give voice to the “natural” pagan vitality, the extreme romanticism and powerful sound architecture of Strauss’s tone poem.


Duration:
1st Part 30’ – Intermission 20’ – 2nd Part 50’
Total 1h 40’