Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC)
Jan Lisiecki, piano

Grieg: Piano Concerto
Zemlinski: Die Seejungfrau (The Little Mermaid)

Venue Programme Note:
The timpani doubling prepares the initial burst and the almost immediate intervention of the leading instrument. Edvard Grieg composed his only piano concerto at the age of 24, while living in Denmark. Premiered in 1869 in Copenhagen, it is a masterpiece of the genre and contains all the elements of romantic artwork: originality, pathos and virtuosity in creation, and the development of melodies evocative of Nordic nature.

Inspired by the story of one of the most international Danes, Hans Christian Andersen, the work that the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky titled Die Seejungfra u (The Little Mermaid) is a dreamy fantasy for orchestra, premiered in 1905 at the Musikverein in Vienna . A suggestive work, in three movements, which for a while was believed to be lost or destroyed, when in fact it was dismembered.