Face of Earth

It is always considered big news when a new Icelandic symphony is premiered. Landlit is Páll Ragnar Pálsson's first symphony, but the Iceland Symphony Orchestra has previously performed several of his works, most recently the bassoon concerto PLAY. Landlit draws inspiration from the eponymous painting by Valgerður Briem, Páll's paternal grandmother, which is a large series of paintings that reflect the texture of Iceland's vegetation and rock formations in an ambiguous way.

Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin is well known to Icelandic concertgoers since his memorable performance with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2019 when he played Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto. Here he will perform as a soloist in Symphony no. 4 by Karol Szymanowski, or Symphonie concertante. Szymanowski was one of Poland's leading composers in the first half of the twentieth century, respected both domestically and internationally. He composed his Fourth Symphony in 1932, and the influence of folk songs from the composer's home in the Tatra Mountains can clearly be heard. The symphony enjoyed immense popularity in its time and was performed across Europe in the years following its premiere. Although the symphony is not heard as often today as it used to be, it is still regularly performed by leading pianists.

The ballet The Miraculous Mandarin was premiered in Germany in 1926, but the reception was nothing like the one Szymanowski experienced. The ballet caused a great scandal due to its immoral content and was subsequently banned. The reception was more positive in Prague a year later, but the story of the three robbers who use a young girl to lure their victims was a constant source of trouble and censorship. It was not until Bartók wrote the concert suite heard here that the music began to resonate more widely, and this diverse, dynamic music became a favourite of concertgoers around the world.