Idyllic scenes and visions

Idyll | Virtuos | Modern

Gabriela Montero is one of the most stand-alone pianists of our time, her style combining technical precision with a rare gift for spontaneous musical form, her improvisations the stuff of legend. This concert will span these two extremes, with Simon Höfele and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra accompanying her all the way.

The evening is designed to incorporate contrasts. Ruth Gipps’ «Cringlemire Garden» opens with an opportunity for strings to display fine nuances. Leoš Janáček’s «Idyll for Strings» follows on, bringing a calm soundscape infused with folk melodies. Things get a little deeper after the intermission: Prokofiev’s «Visions fugitives» (Rudolf Barshai version) are succinct miniatures of extraordinary sharpness and clarity. The highpoint of the night will be Shostakovich’s concerto No.1 op. 35, a work that vacillates between irony, virtuoso and earnest, as piano and trumpet (Höfele) engage in a multi-faceted musical conversation.

To conclude, Montero opens up the performance to improvisations that are inspired by the moment and different every time, with the concert going way beyond musical scores. It provides an occasion to hear and experience a truly unique musician.