Renowned French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard joins Esa Pakka-Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony to play Prokoviev, Bartok, and Ravel.
From February 17th to 19th, Pierre-Laurent Aimard returns to San Francisco to complete his cycle of interpretations of Bartók’s piano concertos with Salonen and the Orchestra, which began in June 2022. This time, he will perform the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Béla Bartók, a concerto completed in 1931. Compared to his first concerto, Bartok wrote that he wanted it to be “less bristling with orchestral difficulties”, with more audience-pleasing and recognizable themes. The concerto is inspired by Eastern European folk and baroque music and features extensive percussion while emphasizing the percussive elements of the piano.
These renditions of Piano Concerto No. 2, like Aimard’s earlier renditions of Bartók’s Concertos Nos. 1 and 3, will be recorded for future audio release.
The program also includes Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel – both a tribute to the friends Ravel lost in battle during the First World War and an ode to French music of centuries past – and excerpts from Roméo et Juliette by Sergei Prokofiev, which depicts the fierce war of the Montagues and the Capulets, contrasted with the affair of the two star-crossed lovers.
Follow Pierre-Laurent Aimard‘s journey by visiting his website here
Dates: February 17, 18 & 19, 2023
Address: Davies Symphony Hall – 201 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco
Get Tickets, Click here
