In its 20th season, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra opened the 2023 summer festival with Mahler’s Third. Paavo Järvi takes over for Riccardo Chailly on short notice and proved to be a more than worthy substitute. He led orchestra, chorus, and soloist Wiebke Lehmkuhl to an “air-spirited serenity” (FAZ)
Lucerne Festival 2023: Paavo Järvi & Maria João Pires
In another prominent concert of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s 20th anniversary edition, Maria Joa~o Pires performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, “Jenamy”, with the orchestra under the baton of Paavo Järvi, who “builds a sanctuary of delicate grace around his soloist.” (FAZ) PROGRAM Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271;
Andante from Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467 (encore)
Mass in B minor
In Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church, Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan perform Bach’s Opus summum: the Mass in B minor, which marks the 2023 Bach Festival’s festive closing. They are joined by an excellent ensemble of soloists who perform the arias as well as the choral parts together with the chorus of the Bach Collegium Japan.
Iván Fischer conducts Mahler 9
In 2023, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and their founder Iva´n Fisher celebrated 40 years together on stage. Mahler’s Ninth has been a staple in their joint repertoire, their interpretation being praised in particular for its straightforward clarity. At the Leipzig Gewandhaus, they deliver a breathtaking performance to standing ovations.
Daniel Harding conducts Mahler 7
Daniel Harding and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 that oscillates between carefree lightness and grueling darkness like no other in his symphonic canon, their joint interpretation being praised as “the best there is.” (LVZ)
Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler 2
At the Leipzig Mahler Festival 2023, the Gewandhausorchester under the baton of Music Director Andris Nelsons and together with soloists Nicola Hillebrand and Gerhild Romberger as well as the MDR-Rundfunkchor, present a rousing performance of Gustav Mahler’s Second (“Resurrection”), gauging the full rollercoaster of musical extremes between death and resurrection.
Tugan Sokhiev conducts Mahler 4
The Münchner Philharmoniker under Tugan Sokhiev and with Christiane Karg’s delicately intimate and clear soprano voice lead the audience through a rousing Mahler Fourth, drawing an arc from radiant blue skies to cracks in the firmament and from the hope of heavenly life to the end of everything earthly.
Nelsons conducts Bach & Saint-Saëns
Chinese superstar Lang Lang is the soloist in Saint-Saëns’s scintillating Piano Concerto No.2, joining the Gewandhausorchester and Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons. One of the composer’s most popular works, the second concerto was written in just 17 days in the spring of 1868 and was once humorously described as “beginning like Bach and ending like Offenbach”. Its different styles certainly offer the virtuoso pianist the opportunity to display all sides of his or her technique – as Lang Lang does to scintillating effect here. The Bach-inspired first movement, meanwhile, provides the inspiration for the rest of the programme, which features rare and fascinating J.S. Bach orchestrations by Mahler, Elgar, Reger and Joachim Raff. PROGRAM Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2; Bach: orchestrations by Mahler, Elgar, Reger and Joachim Raff
Lang Lang & Gina Alice play Saint-Saëns
Husband-and-wife team Lang Lang and Gina Alice join Andris Nelsons and members of the Gewandhausorchester for a very special performance of Saint-Saëns’s ever-popular Carnival of the Animals. The humorous suite was composed with fun in mind, and Saint-Saëns wouldn’t allow it to be performed in public during his lifetime, lest it undermine his reputation as a serious composer. It went on, however, to become one of his best-loved works. Lang Lang is the soloist in Saint-Saëns’s scintillating Piano Concerto No.2, joining the Gewandhausorchester and Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons. PROGRAM Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals, Piano Concerto No.2
RCO: Christmas Matinee with Klaus Mäkelä
Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Christmas Matinee. This festive tradition has been a landmark of the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s season for almost fifty years. The Concertgebouw Orchestra’s future chief conductor conducts Beethoven’s magnificent ‘Eroica’ and works by no less than two Mendelssohns, Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn: PROGRAM Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Felix Mendelssohn: The Hebrides, Infelice, Scherzo from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’; Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn: Hero und Leander