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The Arts Intel Report

Muti, Andsnes & Britten Piano Concerto

Apr 7–12, 2022
220 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60604, USA

Leif Ove Andsnes, that unassuming poet-prince of the keyboard, champions Benjamin Britten’s only piano concerto, hitherto best known from a recording by the Soviet titan Sviatoslav Richter under the baton of the composer. This bravura showcase will probably be new to all but London-based Andsnes groupies, who took a shine to it when he performed it at the Proms, the BBC’s behemoth summer festival. The concerto has four movements: toccata, waltz, impromptu (replacing an earlier “recitative and aria”), and march. Count on the clairvoyant Riccardo Muti to examine the implications not only of every note but also the silences between them. —Matthew Gurewitsch

Leif Ove Andsnes. Photo © Helge Hansen/Sony Music Entertainment.