March 16, 2025 | Tchaikovsky Concert Hall
Concert Offering to Sviatoslav Richter
Soloist – Alexey Melnikov, piano
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Rachmaninoff. Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra in C minor, Op. 18
Scriabin. Symphony No. 3 (“The Divine Poem”), Op. 43
March 20, 2025, is the 110th birthday anniversary of great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter. To this wonderful artist is addressed the concert-offering by maestro Vladimir Spivakov, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and pianist Alexey Melnikov.
Sviatoslav Richter's art has been one of the most important landmarks for Vladimir Spivakov. By his own confession, he always has got in his violin case a photo depicting three giants of the previous century who are Dmitry Shostakovich, Sviatoslav Richter and David Oistrakh. In 2009, Vladimir Spivakov dedicated to Richter his Festival in French Colmar. In his preface to the booklet he wrote that Richter had been a peak, lone and unattainable, in the history of Russian performing arts. 'A huge part of my music life I spent near Sviatoslav Richter, - continues the maestro, - though I was never too close to him. Thus it is the right moment to express my great indebtedness to him. We must enjoy the possibility to honor the memory of the outstanding man who, despite his visible loneliness, managed to bring so much beauty into the world!'
The night will start with the famous Second Piano Concerto by Sergei Rachmaninoff with Alexey Melnikov under the baton of Vladimir Spivakov. It is one of the greatest and most sophisticated compositions of the world piano repertoire and is rightfully considered to be called a “piano symphony”. Part 2 will feature Alexander Scriabin's Symphony No. 3 (“The Divine Poem”), a monumental work that reflected the author's philosophical and religious searchings. The composer forwarded the score with an extended literary program where he presented in much detail his views on a god-man, divine “ego”, human passions and striving for a transcendent game that is creativity, as the apogee of a free human spirit.