Víkingur Ólafsson plays Bach and Mozart

Broadcast programme:
Johann Sebastian Bach - Keyboard Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K 491

Víkingur Ólafsson (piano)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Paavo Järvi (conductor)

The BBC Proms are back in the Royal Albert Hall in London with a six-week season of concerts featuring leading British orchestras as well as international soloists and conductors.

The Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson came to international prominence with his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach's works and he is making his Proms debut with Bach's Keyboard Concerto in F minor. This short work, written probably for the piano's elder cousin, the harpsichord, is followed by one of Mozart's finest. Mozart wrote the C-minor Concerto for himself to perform as a soloist. Among his two dozen keyboard concertos only two are in a minor key and they contain some of his most moving music. The composer gave a prominent role to the woodwind in the C-minor Concerto. There are seven of them - a flute plus pairs of oboes, clarinets and bassoons - and they often alternate with the piano in a 'call-and-response' fashion.

Presenter Andrew McGregor is joined by the pianist and broadcaster Keval Shah.

[Image: Víkingur Ólafsson at the 2021 BBC Proms. Credit: Mark Allan/BBC]