Kremerata Baltica
Lucas Debargue piano

Béla Bartók
Joseph Haydn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dmitri Shostakovich

Divertimento for String Orchestra
Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 37 Hob. XVIII:11
Piano Concerto in C major K. 246
Sinfonietta in C minor, Op. 110 for string orchestera and timpani, arr. Abram Stasevich

Bartók wrote his Divertimento for strings in 1939, at the outset of World War 2, a while before he left Hungary. It was commissioned by his friend Paul Sacher, who led Basel Chamber Orchestra at that time. In this relaxing work the composer coped with traditions and form principles of the Baroque concerto grosso. Haydn’s playful Piano Concerto in D major is very popular in our country especially thanks to the arrangement of Marián Varga released on one of the first recordings of the Collegium musicum band. Equally free-minded Piano Concerto in C major K. 246 was written by the then 20-year-old Mozart for the princess Antonia Lützow, a dedicated amateur pianist. Sinfonietta in C minor, Op. 110 for string orchestera and timpani is in fact an authorized transcription of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8.
The soloist of the concert of the world-famous orchestral body established by Gidon Kremer will be Lucas Debargue. The young pianist who placed “only” fourth at the 15th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2015 was acknowledged by Boris Berezovsky: “People are loving Lucas Debargue because he is a real musician. He loves music passionately and knows everything about it. And not only music. He has brilliant knowledge in literature and art. All this influences his personality: he plays with such a conviction and love.”