Prague, Czech Republic - Czech Philharmonic - Bartók, Escaich, Stravinsky

Seong-Jin Cho piano
Semyon Bychkov conductor
Czech Philharmonic

Programme
Béla Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, suite from the ballet-pantomime
Thierry Escaich: Etudes symphoniques for piano and orchestra (world premiere)
Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka. Burlesque scenes in four tableaux (1947 concert version)

Semyon Bychkov says: “I am convinced that Escaich’s new concerto played by the winner of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Korean pianist Seon Jin Choa, 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 premieres, 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 premieres. I say ‘a bit’ because any reaction by the pubic and critics seems quite peaceable in comparison with the tsunami unleashed by the premiere 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.”