JOHN BRAHMS/EDWARD ELGAR

PROGRAMJOHANNES BRAHMSII Piano concerto Edward ElgarVariations “Enigma”

Conductor MARK WigglesworthPiano BORIS GILTBURGORGrand Theatre Orchestra - National Opera

It is not easy to achieve worldwide success as a composer and remain a modest, sensitive person. It takes a lot of inner peace to remain yourself and not be carried away by entertainment, abundance and pleasure. Such serenity was possessed by two composers whose immense fame not only did not change, but even strengthened their relationship with loved ones — Johannes Brahms and Edward Elgar. They were happy to express this — Brahms in correspondence with friends, to whom he described the creative process of the Second Piano Concerto in B major, Op. 83, and Elgar — in musical parodies of familiar musicians included in Variations “Enigma” Op. 36.

I wrote a tiny, tiny Piano Concerto with a tiny, tiny bit of scherza. It is in the key of B major and I'm afraid I squeezed that udder that always gave so much milk, too hard and vigorously.

This is how Brahms described the creation of one of his greatest works in a letter to Elisabeth von Herzogenberg on July 7, 1881. Of course, his modesty was exaggerated — the Second Piano Concerto assumed impressive proportions and today is an exemplary achievement of Romantic music. The requirement for a poignant, virtuoso performance was imposed here both on the soloist and on the entire orchestra. His first performers, the musicians of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Erkel, accompanied the composer himself in the role of soloist during the first performance on November 9, 1881. Now attempts to combine the elements present in the work: comism with drama, intimacy with artistic showmanship and intimacy with creative success will be undertaken by the winner of the 2013 Queen Elizabeth of Belgium International Music Competition, pianist Boris Giltburg. He will be accompanied by the orchestra of the Grand Theatre — National Opera under the direction of Marek Wigg Glesworth.

No less challenging to interpret are Edward Elgar's “Enigma” Variations, whose first performance on June 19, 1899 at London's St James Hall evoked the euphoria of the audience. This varied, well-instrumented series presents the composer's acquaintances in a rather dark, sometimes funny, and at times downright pathetic way. As the composer wrote in a letter to August Jaeger on October 24, 1898:

The variations amused me a lot because I titled them with the nicknames of my special friends — you are Nimrod. That is, each of the variations presents a new face from the “company”.

It should come as no surprise that variation No. 9, titled Nimrod, is one of the most famous parts of the cycle, though even more interesting is the massive, majestic variation No. 11, in which the organist George Sinclair was “marked” — or rather, as the friendly composer noted in the letters, his bulldog Dan.