Mūza Rubackytė and Concerto Budapest

BERNSTEIN: Candide - overture
PENDERECKI: Piano Concerto (‘Resurrection’) – Hungarian premiere
---intermission---
J. S. BACH: Double Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043
BERNSTEIN: West Side Story – symphonic dances

Muza Rubackyté piano, Boglárka Fábry, Zoltán Rácz vibraphone
Concerto Budapest
Conductor: Zoltán Rácz

21st century piano concerto with choral theme, and in a mambo and cha-cha-cha symphonic guise: one of the finest Bach concertos, the Double Concerto in D minor, is bookended by two genuine curiosities. In the heart of the concerto we discover not violins but vibraphones. In this concert by Zoltán Rácz and Concerto Budapest spanning ages and styles, the soloist in the late, important work by Krzysztof Penderecki is the superb Lithuanian pianist Mūza Rubackytė. 

‘Resurrection’ has been the key word and sobriquet of not only Mahler’s second symphony but Penderecki’s Piano Concerto, too: the work that premiered in Warsaw in autumn 2002 appeared in a heavily reworked final form in 2007, in Cincinnati. The Polish master, who died last year, made the following statement about the central element of his grand orchestral work: “I composed the chorale immediately after the tragedy in New York (11 September 2001) from a purely human upwelling and at the same time as a gesture of protest against brutality.” Bach himself reorchestrated his D minor concerto for two violins and its solo parts, but even the master couldn’t have considered utilizing the vibraphone. The massively gifted Boglárka Fábry, percussion soloist of Concerto Budapest, and Zoltán Rácz, conductor of the concert, play this percussion instrument. Finally, Symphonic Dances by Leonard Bernstein evokes the tragic love affair between Maria and Tony, moreover, the story of the murderous rivalry between the Sharks and the Jets.