Music Alive
Starts at 8:00 pm on Saturday, 5 May 2012
John Chen (piano), Christchurch Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tom Woods
Psathas, Rautavaara, Tchaikovsky
This performance from the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tom Woods includes Luminous by John Psathas, Tchaikovsky’s "Manfred" Symphony and Rautavaara’s Piano Concerto No.3, "Gift of Dreams" with John Chen as soloist.
Conductor Tom Woods says Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s works often have a mystical element, a rhapsodic string theme of austere beauty with whirling flute lines, gently dissonant bells and the suggestions of a pastoral horn.
“This hauntingly beautiful piano concerto is considered to be the greatest written for 100 years.”
John Chen is the youngest winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition, a gifted New Zealand concert pianist with a formidable profile in Australasia where he has worked with all the major symphony orchestras. He has already performed with most of New Zealand’s major symphony orchestras and was the featured soloist on the 50th anniversary tour of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra.
When asked to write a fanfare for the new millennium, New Zealand composer John Psathas found himself considering the last one thousand years and how, within human history, there has been an increase in travel and settling in foreign lands. Luminous is dedicated to the memory of the composer’s friend Pan, who moved to New Zealand from China and found the pressure to integrate two very different sets of beliefs, ultimately overwhelming.
(Source: Christchurch Symphony)
This concert was recorded live in the Christchurch Town Hall by Radio New Zealand
