With her iconic recordings and performances, Mitsuko Uchida is widely revered as piano nobility, bringing to the stage the presence and energy of a small universe. Stravinsky's ballet The Fairy's Kiss is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Ice-Maiden. The evening ends with the tonal ecstasy of Aleksandr Scriabin, who worked in the bustling borderlands between genius and whimsy.
Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) wrote his one-act ballet Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy’s Kiss) in 1928 as a commission from the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, who wanted something to commemorate the anniversary of Tchaikovsky’s death. He took the story from The Ice Maiden by Hans Christian Andersen. A fairy kisses a baby, who grows up to be a fine youth. He is just about to get married when the fairy reappears and makes him fall in love with her instead of his betrothed. She then gives him another kiss and they magically disappear. According to Stravinsky, the fairy may be imagined as a muse – either Tchaikovsky’s or in general. For as in the story, his muse marked Tchaikovsky with a fatal kiss the mysterious imprint of which manifested itself in his every work.
The ballet was premiered in 1928 and the Divertimento is a later suite based on the music. There are four movements: Sinfonia, Danse suisses, Scherzo and Pas de deux.
“We’ve gone past the days when the composer was thought of as being struck by inspiration, feverishly scribbling down his thoughts on a scrap of paper. Writing music is 75 per cent an intellectual activity,” said Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) of his piano concerto in G premiered in 1932. It had taken him two years to complete. While visiting the United States, he had got to know George Gershwin and his Rhapsody in Blue, was prompted to compose a concerto of his own, immersed himself in the world of American harmony and added a pinch of Mozart and Saint-Saëns to produce a model example of the seamless blending of jazz and Classical.
Some critics look down on this concerto as being too light, but in Ravel’s opinion, “The music of a concerto should…be light-hearted and brilliant, and not aim at profundity or at dramatic effects. It has been said of certain classics that their concertos were written not ‘for’ but ‘against’ the piano. I heartily agree.”
The concerto is in three movements. The middle Adagio is modelled on the slow movement in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet.
Pianist Mitsuko Uchida (born 1948) is one of the leading classical musicians of our day. Uchida is the recipient of many awards and honours for her contributions to music, including the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal, and the Japanese Praemium Imperiale prize. She is made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).
Raised in a diplomat family, Japanese-born Uchida spent her youth in Vienna, where she studied the piano with Richard Hauser and Wilhelm Kempff, among others, eventually earning awards and recognition in international piano competitions. She moved to London in the 1970s and later became naturalised in Britain.
Uchida is known as a peerless interpreter of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Her extensive repertoire of recordings forms a multi-award-winning discography.
Mitsuko Uchida appears regularly in recitals, engages in touring, and performs as a soloist with the world’s most renowned orchestras globally.
Yes, but only before or after the concert. During the concert we just want you to enjoy the music. This way you won’t disturb the musicians or other audience members.
Only the orchestra has a dress code. You can dress as you like.
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