Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Yuja Wang
Mozart / Stravinsky / Janáček / Gershwin
Piano and winds
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra is in a league of its own: formed in 1997 by Claudio Abbado and former members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, it is now one of the top ensembles in the scene and includes musicians from 20 nations. The ensemble regularly works with top international soloists – such as Yuja Wang in this case. This original programme presents enticing challenges not only for the Chinese-American pianist’s super-virtuosic fingers, but also for the orchestra’s wind instruments.
The stylistic diversity that prevailed in the 1920s is demonstrated by a range of very different works, from Stravinsky’s neo-classical piano concerto and Janáček’s original Capriccio for Piano Left-Hand (a commission for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein) to George Gershwin’s »Rhapsody in Blue«. This ever-popular work blends jazz and classical in a perfect symbiosis – and the version for jazz band is particularly groovy.
Performers
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Yuja Wang piano and direction
Programme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Serenade in E-flat major, KV 375, for two oboes, two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons
Igor Strawinsky
Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments
– Interval –
Leoš Janáček
Capriccio for Piano Left-Hand and Wind Ensemble
George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue (version for piano and jazz band)
Encore:
Arturo Márquez
Danzón No. 2 / Klavierfassung für Yuja Wang
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