Programme:
Edvard Grieg: Lyric Pieces (selection)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy:  Songs Without Words (selection)
Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 (arr. P. Gilson)

Cast:
Simon Trpcheski – piano

The recital programme of the outstanding Macedonian pianist Simon Trpcheski is focused on various forms of the 19th-century Romanticism. Edward Grieg’s Lyrical Pieces is one of his most well-known and most played works, and all of us have certainly come across it sometime. It is a set of 66 tiny compositions with various moods and characters from which the pianist chooses. Mendelssohn is another representative of the Romantic period in its purest form. Just like the Lyrical Pieces, Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words are short and pleasant piano compositions, with 48 pieces for the piano grouped in 8 books. Rimski-Korsakov’s Scheherazade appears on the Ostrava stage quite regularly – it is one of the most interesting, but on the other hand also one of the most difficult compositions for a symphony orchestra. However, Ostrava now has the opportunity to experience its solo piano version for the first time – it is a unique opportunity to see this remarkable work, inspired by the One Thousand and One Nights fairy tales full of exotic atmospheres and Oriental tunes, from a slightly different angle. Scheherazade was edited by the author for the piano duet, and the piano solo version is the work of the Belgian composer Paul Gilson.