May 9th, 2011
Denis Kozhukhin makes his debut with Netherlands Philharmonic this month, with four concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on May 21, 22, 23 and 24. He will play Brahms Piano Concerto No.2, conducted by Kirill Karabits, in a programme that also includes Stravinsky Suite No.2 and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition.
Brahms: Fantasies No. 1 in D minor
“In Beethoven anniversary year, there will probably be many more “Moonlight”s, meaning the Sonata, than the real thing (though we’ve been lucky to see the crescent in close conjunction with Venus these past two nights). Not many pianists would dare to place it at the beginning of a programme. Denis Kozhukhin’s paradoxically no-nonsense poetry meant that a constant sense of motion culminated in the whirlwind of the finale, a steady move towards implosion mirrored in the piano transcription of Ravel’s La Valse at the end of the programme. In between came perfection in the form of pure song from Schubert and Grieg.”
