‘Just look, ladies and gentlemen, at what a man can perform with the five fingers of his left hand!’ – wrote of Maurice Ravel’s biographer Vladimir Jankélévitch about the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major. The French composer created it for Paul Wittgenstein, an American pianist who lost his right arm in the First World War. It is unquestionably a great showpiece by the composer: a fully symphonic work in which the extended piano passages and masterly construction don’t even allow anyone to realise that the soloist is playing with only one hand. This masterpiece will be interpreted at the Kraków Philharmonic by Roger César Muraro, a French pianist famous for performances of music by his compatriots: Olivier Messiaen and Ravel (he recorded a complete set of his works). The French character of the symphonic evenings under the baton of Michał Klauza will be highlighted by the Ravel’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major and Georges Bizet's L'Arlésienne (suites Nos. 1 and 2), one of the few works by this composer, much-underrated in his time, that achieved success while he was still alive.
Maurice Ravel
– Piano Concerto in G major
– Piano Concerto in D major for lef hand
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Georges Bizet
– L'Arlésienne suite No. 1
– L'Arlésienne suite No. 2
Roger César Muraro – piano
Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra
Michał Klauza – conductor
