Concert

Valery Gergiev conducts Debussy, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev – With Denis Matsuev

National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America – Robeco SummerNights at the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam

Live
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Cast

Denis Matsuev — Pianist

National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America

Valery Gergiev — Conductor

Program notes

Valery Gergiev conducts the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America in a program dedicated to Debussy, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev. The Russian virtuoso Denis Matsuev joins them to interpret the Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninov. Watch this concert live from the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam on medici.tv.

Each summer, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute brings together some of the finest young musicians from across the country (ages 16–19) to form the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA). Following a comprehensive audition process and a two-week training residency at Purchase College, State University of New York, with faculty made up of principal players from top professional orchestras, these remarkable teenagers embark on a tour to some of the great music capitals of the world, serving as dynamic, American music ambassadors. For this special concert, Valery Gergiev conducts the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America for the second time, having conducted the inaugural tour in 2013. On the stage of the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, they are joined by Denis Matsuev, the virtuoso in the grandest Russian tradition of pianism.

The concert opens with Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (Prélude à « L'Après-midi d'un faune ») by Debussy, a work inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé's poem L'Après-midi d'un faune about a half-man, half-goat creature from an ancient Greek legend. Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 follows. "I wrote this piece for elephants," Rachmaninov once said. It certainly takes someone with gigantic technical prowess to get through the piece, which features some of the most spectacular virtuoso writing in the piano concerto literature. The concert ends with two masterpieces by Prokofiev. First, his Symphony No. 4, which has the odd distinction of being both one of his favorite symphonies and one of the least performed. "I have always liked it," Prokofiev once said. Second are selections from Romeo and Juliet that illustrate the myriad moods of the piece: lyrical, brash, and witty, with plenty of passion.

Pictures:
Valery Gergiev © Alexander Shapunov
Denis Matsuev © Yannick Perrin - Annecy Classic Festival
National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America © Chris Lee

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