âThe greatest on disc?â asked âGramophoneâ magazine when the Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva recorded Chopinâs âĂtudesâ â and the same critic went on to praise âthe most consistently inspired, masterfully executed and beautiful-sounding versions I can recallâ. But no recording ever comes close to the live experience, and in this concert we get to hear all the freshness, insight and understanding of Chochievaâs way with Chopin in real life, as she joins guest conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens and the BBC SSO in the teenage Chopinâs love-song of a First Piano Concerto. Itâs a bit of a theme: Robert Schumann wrote his second and sunniest symphony in the first flush of love for his new wife Clara, and the score is studded with profoundly romantic gestures. But light needs shade, and the afternoon opens in the dark realm of Tuonela â the underworld of Finnish legend, where a swan sings a deathless melody on slowly drifting waters. Sibeliusâs tone poem is one of those pieces that sinks forever into the depths of your memory.
The concert will be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
