Two great piano concertos in the first half of the concert – and what is more, with a solo by Dénes Várjon who enjoys a close relationship with Concerto Budapest and nurtures a connection with his audience that is in awe of the musician. It would be hard to have a more propitious start to a concert. The Piano Concerto No. 16 in D major dates from 1784, when Mozart was at the height of his fame in Vienna, and the composer himself was on hand at the premiere. Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 was penned in the United States in 1945, right at the end of the composer’s life: it was dedicated to Ditta Pásztory, serving (according to some interpretations) as an inheritance to augment the concert opportunities of the wife/widow. Bartók only had time to get his son Péter to draw the barlines for the final 17 bars of the lyric piano concerto, which has a most powerful and memorable start. After the intermission, there is another unfinished work composed towards the end of a career: Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9. It finally debuted years after the death of the composer and to this day there exist a whole series of versions and endings. The Scherzo, like most from the pen of Bruckner, is wonderfully moving. In this instance, however, it is not dedicated to a partner (Bruckner remained a confirmed bachelor until his dying day) but instead to God Himself: “dem lieben Gott”.