Tchaikovsky and Beethoven

Iceland welcomes Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov for his third visit to the country. His first performance with the Iceland Symphony in 2015 was otherworldly, “so astounding was his technique that piano aficionados, perched spellbound on the edge of their seats, could return home satisfied,” said the critic from Morgunblaðið. Here Abduraimov plays Beethoven's piano concerto in C major, full of youthful excitement, composed when he was only 25 years old. 

The programme opens with the overture to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, one of the gems of Russian Romanticism. 

Germany's Emilie Mayer is one of many female composers whom history virtually forgot for a period of decades. In the recent past, though, her work has been garnering more of the attention it so well deserves, and her music is heard more and more often around the world. Mayer wrote a total of eight symphonies, among other works, despite the widely held view in the male-dominated musical world of the 19th century that women were incapable of handling such a large musical form. The symphony heard here shows without doubt that Mayer could write just as well as the men around her. The work is grand and dramatic, reminiscent of Schumann and Mendelssohn, and yet it has its own distinct sound. 

Anja Bihlmaier is Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague and Chief Guest Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. She has drawn considerable attention for her interpretation of operatic and symphonic music and is particularly skilled at revivifying forgotten compositions. 

Due to uncontrollable circumstances, Abduraimov had to switch from playing Prokofiev's piano concerto as was originally planned.