With this concert, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Herbert Blomstedt embarked on a musical journey to the Czech Republic in memory of the orchestra’s former conductor Václav Neumann. It was there that Jan Václav Voríšek was born in 1791, the manuscript of his D Major Symphony sharing the fate of the symphonies of his friend Franz Schubert in neither being published nor performed during his lifetime. Prague was also the place of a short, late, and rare happy chapter in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s moving biography and his D major Symphony K. 504 was premiered there. PROGRAM Voríšek: Symphony D major, op. 23; Mozart: Symphony D major, K 504 “Prague”
Krystian Zimerman – Beethoven Piano Concertos
Krystian Zimerman and Sir Simon Rattle have reunited to record Beethoven’s Complete Piano Concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra in one marathon concert. From the youthful first to the mighty ‘Emperor’, this is a real one-off: an unprecedented meeting of great musical minds. That’s no exaggeration: the unique rapport between Zimerman and Sir Simon is based upon years of shared ideals and mutual respect. Gramophone described their partnership as “a thing of wonder”, praising their “thrilling sense of purpose”. Crucially, neither of them ever forgets that Beethoven is bigger than both of them, making this unprecedented, unrepeatable concert a worthy tribute to Beethoven at the end of this, his 250th anniversary year.
Rachlin conducts Tchaikovsky
Pianist Denis Matsuev and his good friend, the violinist Julian Rachlin, perform in the venerable Moscow Conservatory. On this occasion, the artists dare to try something new: instead of his violin, Julian Rachlin reaches for the conductor’s baton to conduct a piece which he, with his violin, would neve approach. Together and for the first time, they give an interpretation of a work put to paper by Tchaikovsky in the Moscow of 1874: his Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as the Symphony No. 5.
Beethoven Celebration Berlin
In 2020, Ludwig van Beethoven is the focus of the Staatskapelle Berlin’s suberb open-air concert. With star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Beethoven’s Violin Romances Nos. 1 & 2, the composer anticipated the romantic genre of the „song without words“. In capturing the expressive „singing on the instrument“, the virtuoso talent and remarkable art of Anne-Sophie Mutter are once again demonstrated. Daniel Barenboim has devoted his life to Beethoven‘s work and mentality. The musical director, pianist and cultural activist conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin and the State Opera Chorus in this concert. Giving justice to the 9th Symphony with its insistent appeal to humanity and its forward-looking utopian character, are the high calibre artists: Julia Kleiter, Waltraud Meier, Andreas Schager and René Pape.
Hope for Prague
A special concert in a stunning setting: British violinist Daniel Hope, who studied under the legendary Yehudi Menuhin, performs Max Richter’s iconic composition “Vivaldi Recomposed”, a re-imagining of the Four Seasons, with the Epoque Orchestra on a floating stage on the Vltava against the backdrop of Prague Castle and overlooked by the imposing National Theatre complex. The concert also features the world premiere of a new version of Czech composer Bedrich Smetana’s “Vltava”, which is named after the river.
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Beethoven & Debussy
The concert is being led by the young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä. He is conducting two undisputed highlights of the history of orchestral music, taking us on a journey over land and sea with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the ‘Pastoral’, and Debussy’s “La mer”.
RCO: Noseda conducts Liszt, Dvorák and Kodály
Yefim Bronfman is performing Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto, which makes a colourful Eastern European programme in combination with evocative works by Dvorák and Kodály under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda. Yefim Bronfman is performing Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto, which makes a colourful Eastern European programme in combination with evocative works by Dvorák and Kodály under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda. PROGRAM Liszt: Piano Concerto No.2; Dvorák: The Noon Witch; Kodály: ‘Peacock’ Variations
RCO: Dudamel conducts Mozart & Mahler
After an absence of more than seven years, Gustavo Dudamel returns to the Concertgebouworkest. And how! For the first time, he will be leading the Amsterdam-based orchestra with its illustrious Mahler tradition in a symphony by Gustav Mahler. Relative to the rest of Mahler’s œuvre, the Symphony No. 4 is comparatively short, airy in tone and lightly scored, yet it is no less ambitious in its conception – the final movement, entitled Das himmlische Leben, is a childlike vision of heaven. It is sung in this performance by the Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling. PROGRAM Mozart: Overture “Die Zauberflöte”; Mahler: Symphony No. 4
RCO: Pappano conducts Beethoven & Schumann
Igor Levit returns to the Concertgebouworkest to perform Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto under the direction of Sir Antonio Pappano. The outstanding Russian–German pianist made his Concertgebouworkest debut in April 2018. Levit’s performance was ‘self-assured and challenging’, wrote De Volkskrant of his performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto ones again provides an opportunity for another exciting partnership. PROGRAM Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3; Schumann: Symphony No. 2
Lucerne Festival 2019: Chailly conducts Rachmaninoff
Everything changed for Sergei Rachmaninoff after 1917. As a result of the October Revolution, power impinged directly on his life – and on his art. The new political conditions forced him to leave his Russian homeland and flee into exile in the West. In order to earn a living, he had to perform for the most part as a piano virtuoso, constantly touring Europe and America. Which meant he had hardly any time left over to compose. The program with which Riccardo Chailly and his Lucerne Festival Orchestra open the 2019 Summer Festival orbits around this turning point in Rachmaninoff’s life, pairing the legendary Third Piano Concerto, written in Russia in 1909, with the melancholy Third Symphony, which he created as an émigré in Hertenstein near Lucerne in 1935-36. PROGRAM Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto Nr. 3; Symphony No. 3; Vocalise op. 34 No. 14