Alexander Paley: A. Rubinstein’s concert cycle

A. Rubinstein. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, op. 35
G. Mahler. Symphony No. 1 in D major (“The Titan”)

Alexander Paley, piano
Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Gintaras Rinkevičius

The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, led by artistic director and chief conductor maestro Gintaras Rinkevičius, together with piano virtuoso Alexander Paley, presents an exceptional concert series: five special evenings featuring all the concertos for piano and orchestra written by one of the most famous piano virtuosos, composers and educators of the 19th century, Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894).

Born into a Jewish family in Moldova, A. Rubinstein received his first piano lessons from his mother. A little later, he was discovered and taught by the famous pianist and pedagogue Alexander Villoing. At the age of 9, A. Rubinstein gave his first public performances, and at the age of 11 he performed in Paris for Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Felix Mendelssohn. In 1854, at the age of 24, A. Rubinstein went on a four-year concert tour in Europe, during which he quickly established himself as a fully mature piano virtuoso and a widely respected composer. Ignaz Moscheles wrote after one of the concerts on this tour what later became a universal opinion of A. Rubinstein: “In his power and performance, he is second to none”. This evening, A. Paley will perform A. Rubinstein’s Second Piano Concerto in F major, composed in 1851.

In the second part of the concert, the audience will witness the First Symphony of the Austrian musical genius Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), also known as “The Titan” – this is an allusion to the popular short story of the same name by Jean Paul, whose main character uses his inner strength to defend himself from the evil of the world. In the symphony, the composer combined the imagery and storyline of a symphonic poem with the classical structure characteristic of a symphony. Such an ambitious idea of G. Mahler changed the symphony genre forever.