Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Presented by Liszt Academy

That Mozart’s glorious Piano Concerto in C major features on the same programme as symphonic works by Tchaikovsky would have made the latter composer extremely proud. The Russian master described Mozart as “musical Christ” and looked up to him all his life. The result of this devotion was the Orchestral Suite No. 4, more commonly known as Mozartiana (‘Homage to the memory of Mozart’), in which a few forgotten piano works by Mozart and the Ave verum corpus motet are reworked for orchestra. The Mozartiana is rarely heard in concert although it contains some brilliant parts. A German critic of Tchaikovsky said of Suite No. 4 that it appeared as though the Russian composer did not have his own theme, which is why he resorted to Mozart melodies. Tchaikovsky convincingly refuted this mischievous remark six years later when at the age of 53 he composed the Pathétique Symphony. Jeremy Denk, soloist for the recital, is a pianist living in New York. He was recently made a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. His wide repertoire also includes György Ligeti études.