Neeme Järvi, Anna Shelest & Concerto Budapest

One of the doyens of today’s conductors is 82-year-old Neeme Järvi, the two sons of whom, Paavo and Kristjan, also belong to the international top echelon of conductors. He arrives in Hungary with a special 19th century Russian programme. Furthermore, he introduces the Ukrainian pianist Anna Shelest (currently resident in America); they have done much to promote the fine piano concertos of Anton Rubinstein at concerts and on recordings. This time the programme features the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major (1851): the solo part demands a flamboyant and true virtuoso (after all, Rubinstein intended it for himself). ▪ Glazunov’s two orchestral concert waltzes also rank among the more spectacular numbers while the Rimsky-Korsakov composition, Antar, a work titled at different times ‘symphony’ and ‘symphonic suite’, is nearly as rare a visitor in Hungarian concert halls as the piano concertos of Rubinstein. The ‘title role’ of the work is a legendary Arabian warrior and poet, but the gazelle and the fairy queen of Palmyra inspiring the symphony also make an appearance.