reviews
Concert Review, London, 4/4/2009, Royal Festival Hall
what can be in no doubt was Prosseda's technical virtuosity throughout this exhilarating performance, which concluded with a breathtaking finale. rating: *****Reconstructed Mendelssohn and spell-binding Brahms make for a thrilling LPO concert under Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
The first half of this memorable evening was devoted to one work, namely Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in E minor, which if he had lived to complete it would have been his third. At the time of his death he had only managed to sketch the opening bars, the solo piano part for the remainder of the first movement, the entire second movement and a few melodic fragments for the third. It was tonight's pianist, Roberto Prosseda, who suggested to scholar Marcello Bufalini that he reconstruct the piece from what little fragments the composer had left.
Whether Mendelssohn would have followed the same train of thought as Bufalini is open to endless conjecture but what can be in no doubt was Prosseda's technical virtuosity throughout this exhilarating performance, which concluded with a breathtaking finale.
Keith McDonnell
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