Alice Burla

Alice Burla is a pianist scheduled to appear as soloist with the Greenwich Village Orchestra in New York, performing Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, a work written for piano, trumpet, and strings. Listeners unfamiliar with her playing can expect this concert to pair her with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 on the same program.

The centerpiece of this appearance, Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, is an unusual piece: alongside the piano, a solo trumpet trades sharp, sardonic phrases, while the strings alone fill out the rest of the ensemble, no other winds or brass. Expect quick tempo shifts, moments of mock-seriousness quoting older classical styles, and a finale that races along with a circus-like energy. As a soloist in this piece, a pianist needs both a light comic touch and the power to match a brassy trumpet line. The second half brings Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, a work that carries a single memorable melody through all four movements, transforming it from something hesitant and dark at the start into a triumphant fanfare by the close.