BBC Prom 41: György Ligeti Lontano; Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major; Dmitry Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 in E minor. 4**** : Clare Colvin

Alexandre Kantorow piano; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Duncan Riddell leader; Vasily Petrenko conductor

Tchaikovsky Competition-winner Alexandre Kantorow was hailed as a “fire-breathing virtuoso” when he won the 2019 Award for outstanding young pianists. At his Proms debut last Tuesday (15 Aug) the French born Kantorow, still in his twenties, revealed another exceptional facet when he joined Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4.

Beethoven’s Fourth sees the composer in meditative mood, celebrating the beauties and harmonies of creation. The first movement begins reflectively, gathering force in the reprise. But then one becomes immersed in the delicacy of the touch of the hands on the keys, and the light-hearted playfulness of Kantorow’s dashing runs. An extra dimension is added by witnessing the exquisitely sensitive touch of the pianist’s hands on the keys during the performance, and the absolute harmony with orchestra and conductor Vasily Petrenko.

A contrasting mood marks Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E minor - fifty-seven minutes of sustained fury that could almost be said to illustrate the composer’s commemoration of the death of Stalin in March 1953. Living on a knife-edge after the cultural purges of 1948, Shostakovich was humiliated and terrorised by the moustachioed monster, his music blacklisted and permanently waiting for a premiere or rehabilitation. The second movement is the most venomously expressed - Shostakovich has been quoted as saying it was “a musical portrait of Stalin, roughly speaking.”

Certainly the clashing chords and stabbing of woodwind brought out the feeling of a frenzied chaos sweeping all before it. The finale was dark with woodwind and sometimes a burst of defiance from violins. Shostakovich lived 22 years beyond Stalin’s death, during which time he was able to write the majority of his string quartets, his last five symphonies and his late song-cycles. But last week at the Proms it seemed the pivotal moment of 1953 was linking up with the uncertain world of today.