Kateryna Titova, Francisco Navarro Lara and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra – Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1

Kateryna Titova, who recently captivated audiences in Raiding with an all-Liszt programme, opens the Liszt Festival alongside the Vienna Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Francisco Navarro Lara. The centrepiece of the evening is Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – a work defined by its dynamic interplay between soloist and orchestra.

Under the clear and expressive baton of Francisco Navarro Lara, the concerto unfolds as a true musical dialogue between equals. Ideas pass seamlessly between the piano and orchestra, evolving and expanding in a structure Liszt refined over nearly two decades. The work reflects the brilliance of his youthful virtuosity as well as the architectural scope of his later symphonic writing.

The programme is complemented by Liszt’s symphonic poem Prometheus, rich in dramatic gesture and orchestral colour. The evening concludes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 – a work held in the highest esteem by Liszt, who, as a young man, transcribed all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies for solo piano as an homage to the composer’s orchestral genius.