2013 Summer Europe Tour
Performances
August 2013
On Tour
15 Thu
Philharmonic Concert Hall
Warsaw
Program
Opening concert, Chopin International Music Festival
- Lutoslawski
- Musique funebre a la memoire de Bela Bartok
- Chopin
- Piano Concerto in E minor
- Penderecki
- Piano Concerto
Conductor:
Guest Artists:
Nelson Goerner, Piano
Barry Douglas, Piano
On Tour
16 Fri
Philharmonic Concert Hall
Warsaw
Program
Chopin International Music Festival
- Lutoslawski
- Livre pour Orchestre
- Piano Concerto
- Stravinsky
- Firebird Suite
Conductor:
Guest Artist:
Gerhard Oppitz, Piano
On Tour
17 Sat
Philharmonic Concert Hall
Warsaw
Program
Chopin International Music Festival
- Rachmaninov
- Piano Concerto No. 3, op.30 in D minor
- Glazunov
- The Seasons
Conductor:
Guest Artist:
Nikolai Lugansky, Piano
On Tour
19 Mon
Usher Hall
Edinburgh
Program
Edinburgh International Festival
- Rachmaninov
- Piano Concerto No. 3, op. 18, in C minor
- Glazunov
- The Seasons
Conductor:
Guest Artist:
Nikolai Lugansky, Piano
On Tour
20 Tue
Usher Hall
Edinburgh
Program
Edinburgh International Festival
- Rachmaninov
- Piano Concerto No. 2, op. 30, in D minor
- Scriabin
- Symphony No. 1
Conductor:
Guest Artists:
Nikolai Lugansky, Piano
Svetlana Sozdateleva, Soprano
Maxim Paster, Tenor
On Tour
22 Thu
Kurhaus
Wiesbaden
Program
Rheingau Music Festival
- Rachmaninov
- Piano Concerto No. 2, op. 18
- Tchaikovsky
- Symphony No. 5, op. 64
Conductor:
Guest Artist:
Nikolai Lugansky, Piano
On Tour
24 Sat
Festivalzelt
Gstaad
Program
Menuhin Festival
- Glazunov
- The Seasons
- Donizetti
- Come uno spirto angelico
- Verdi
- Je veux encore entendre ta voix (from Jerusalem)
- Tchaikovsky
- Capriccio Italien (op.45)
- Donizetti
- Pour mon ame (from “la fille du Regiment")
Conductor:
Guest Artist:
Juan Diego Florez, Tenor
September 2013
On Tour
25 Wed
Sala Mare a Palatului
Bucharest
Program
George Enescu International Festival
- Prokofiev
- Violin Concerto No. 2
- Tchaikovsky
- Melody and Valse-Scherzo
- Glazunov
- The Seasons
Conductor:
Guest Artist:
Vadim Repin, Violin
On Tour
26 Thu
Sala Mare a Palatului
Bucharest
Program
George Enescu International Festival
- Lizst
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat Major
- Mahler
- Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection)
Conductor:
Guest Artists:
Boris Berezovsky, Piano
Anita Hartig, Soprano
Bernarda Fink, Mezzo-soprano
Reviews
Edinburgh Guide
This [Glazunov] was a most delightful piece masterfully performed under the authoritative baton of Pletnev, whose marvellous sense of musical structure, instinct for the right tempo and ear for orchestral balance and colour ensured the combined talent of members of the Russian Nation Orchestra gave tonight's audience an evening of music not to be missed.
Edinburgh Festival Guide
Glazunov's... delicate musical scenery packed with glistening colours and joyous levity, and those ripe and succulent timbres you tend only genuinely to experience from Russian orchestras. [The RNO's] swaying warmth gave characterful realisation to Glazunov’s Winter imagery, the Tchaikovskian lightness of Spring, Summer’s sunny dances, and the sumptuous exuberance of Autumn’s Bacchanal.
The Herald Scotland
Usher Hall was duly packed to the rafters to witness Nikolai Lugansky's steely mastery of [Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2] alongside the muscle powered sound of the Russian strings. Pletnev...seemed to cherish the music he held in his hands.... Glazunov's The Seasons was pure balletic entertainment... With a display of forces unlikely ever to fit into a theatre pit, the RNO and Pletnev, conducting from memory, sparkled their way through the colourful waltzes and pointe work.
Seen and Heard International
[The RNO's] technique is impeccable and extremely impressive: they create a particularly dark, chocolaty sound that has the ability to capture the listener in its extraordinary sweep. The unison string sound at the opening of Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto, for example, was like a tidal wave sweeping off the stage... Pletnev directed... [the Glazunov] with remarkable subtlety, but was happy to let rip during the famous Bacchanale in the Autumn scene, and the orchestra responded in kind. This was a real orchestral treat, and the packed hall gave it the ovation it deserved.
The Guardian
The Edinburgh international festival sets off thought-provoking resonances. The Russian National Orchestra under its founding conductor, Mikhail Pletnev, delivered a seismic performance of Alexander Glazunov's The Seasons that culminated in an Autumn so musically boisterous it nearly blew the audience from their seats.
Financial Times
The RNO’s performance had finesse, élan, colour and, yes, pride... The Glazunov was pure, unadulterated bliss – a make-believe paradise of devil-may-care waltzes, swirling cross-currents of sound, snowflakes in music, the occasional glimpse of melancholy, but above all tunes, tunes, tunes, ravishingly orchestrated and lovingly despatched. Pletnev’s tight rhythmic control kept the performance à point, and the RNO’s dark timbres and euphonious brass did the rest.