Igor Levit & the Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Not even the Lucerne Festival Orchestra can decline an invitation from Igor Levit. Between the Spring and Summer Festivals, the much-admired ensemble will perform yet again, this time focusing on Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. At the center of the closing concert is one of his most original piano concertos, Jenamy, which the legendary pianist Alfred Brendel once called a “wonder of the world.” Mozart wrote it at the age of 21 for the Parisian pianist Louise Victoire Jenamy, who must have been a fabulous virtuoso - to judge from the solo part, which whirls across the keys. But Mozart presents a heart-rending lament in the central movement that plunges into profound regions of the soul - Igor Levit refers to its “breathtaking depths.” By contrast, the Serenata notturna that opens the program displays an attitude of playing for the sheer pleasure of playing: no shadows are cast on this cheerfully entertaining music. The Haffner Symphony will conclude the program with vibrantly energetic musical fireworks - along with a quote from the composer’s opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, in which Osmin boasts that he will triumph. Mozart knew exactly how to entice his audience.

Program
16.00
Introduction to the Concert
with Susanne Stähr (KKL Luzern, Auditorium, in German)

17.00
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756–1791)
Serenade in D major, K. 239 Serenata notturna
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 271 Jenamy
Symphony in D major, K. 385 Haffner

This concert has no intermission.