Dezső Ránki, Keller Quartet and the Concerto Budapest

We do not necessarily need a full symphony orchestra to perform masterpieces from the Classical and the Romantic Periods. This concert will feature two re-arranged pieces: one of them was "reduced", while the other was "augmented", and the two are joined together by one of the most splendid gems of the chamber music repertoire. With his Piano Concerto in A major composed just two months before Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart entertained not only his audience but also himself, and he still does so with us with his brilliant first and third movements and his poignant Adagio. Perhaps, it was due to Schumann’s obsessive nature that from time to time, he would be fixated on a single genre. Thus, in his oeuvre, there is a Lied year, a year of symphonies and a year of chamber music. One of the most prominent pieces from that latter year is his Piano Quintet in E-flat major, which served as a source of inspiration for several composers coming after Schumann, thanks to its pioneering tone and structure. Dezső Ránki will interpret both the concerto and quintet, fortifying his marvellous and long-standing cooperation with András Keller and Concerto Budapest. It is no small challenge to re-arrange a string quartet for a string orchestra: first of all, in the latter, there are five instead of four string parts. Second, a solo part requires an entirely different performance technique than an orchestral one. Mahler, too, must have been aware of this, who did not simply re-arrange Schubert's iconic string quartet Death and the Maiden but also interpreted it. The final result is an early Romantic piece seen from the perspective of a late-Romantic composer and conductor.