The Enescu Online Festival and Competition continues to broadcast exceptional concerts from its valuable archive, being the only classical music festival that offers free access to recordings from its previous editions. The second series opens with a concert presented by Orchestre National de France, conducted by Emmanuel Krivine and with Evgeny Kissin as soloist.
The concert was performed during the 2019 George Enescu International Festival, at the Grand Palace Hall. The Orchestre National de France, one of the top orchestras worldwide for many years, presents a program including works by Franz Liszt and Modest Mussorgsky: Mazeppa Symphonic Poem; the Second Piano Concerto in A major with one of the most popular pianists today as a soloist; and Pictures from an Exhibition, in a version orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. The Piano Concerto No. 2 had a rather troubled birth, since Liszt, hoping to strike a balance between aspects of virtuosity and musical merit, worked on it – revising and scrutinizing it repeatedly – for the better part of 24 years. Its technical and stylistic challenges allow Kissin to show both his vision and mastery.
Evgeny Kissin’s musicality, the depth and poetic quality of his interpretations, and his extraordinary virtuosity have earned him the respect and admiration deserved by the most gifted classical pianists of his generation and, arguably, generations past. He is in demand the world over and has appeared with many of the world’s great conductors, including Abbado, Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Dohnanyi, Giulini, Karajan, Levine, Maazel, Muti and Ozawa, as well as all the great orchestras of the world.
Emmanuel Krivine is regarded as one of the world’s most distinguished conductors whose elegant and colorful interpretations have made him a favorite with leading orchestras and soloists around the world. Praised as one of the foremost French musicians today, Krivine has held several important positions in France. Since September 2017 he has been Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, the orchestra’s first French Music Director in over 40 years.
