Vestards ŠIMKUS – piano
On 22 August the LNSO SUMMER HOUSE welcomes the “Spīķeri Quartet” and Vestards Šimkus.
Legends surround Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet – it was so popular that people hummed its themes in the streets and on the trams, and the work was discussed no less eagerly than the latest football results. Allusions to Bach, a still fairly young composer embittered and intimidated by life, a gleaming joy of living woven into the music, and a Stalin Prize – such is the field of context around it. The first half brings Vestards Šimkus solo, with his own sonata “Light Years Away”, a Mozart sonata and waltzes by Scriabin and Chopin.