Leuchtfeuer

In the organizer's words:

Everything is clear from the very first bar: this is a great tragedy, about ambition, honor, revenge and suicide. In less than ten minutes, Ludwig van Beethoven tells the dramatic story of the Roman general Coriolan, who reached for the stars and ended up in the abyss: a masterful musical character study, full of emotional outbursts and titanic fire.

In contrast to the Coriolan Overture, which Beethoven apparently found easy to play, his Piano Concerto No. 3 was a difficult birth. The creative flow repeatedly came to a halt, other projects intervened, and even after three long years of sketching, discarding and composing, the work was still not finished. Nevertheless, the premiere took place: The composer himself was at the piano, who already had the solo part in his head but not yet on paper, but played it brilliantly nonetheless. The 3rd Piano Concerto is a beacon of its genre, because it is no longer just a showpiece for a virtuoso with orchestral accompaniment, but - completely new - actually a symphony with a concertante piano. Paul Lewis as soloist is a worthy successor to the outstanding pianist Beethoven.

Four days to draft a complete symphony, three weeks to complete the score: "It was born in a fiery hour", Robert Schumann confessed in reference to the creative frenzy from which the First Symphony emerged - a grandiose work full of light, brilliance and soulful, romantic intimacy. It is a "spring symphony" in more ways than one: he wrote it at the end of winter, "in that springtime urge that overtakes people well into old age and anew every year". It also describes Schumann's springtime of the soul, as he had recently married Clara Wieck after a long struggle. Antonello Manacorda celebrates the composer's triumphant departure into the realm of great symphonic music - another spring of a very special kind.

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven
Overture to Coriolan op. 62

Concerto for piano and orchestra
No. 3 in C minor op. 37

Robert Schumann
Symphony No. 1 in B flat major op. 38
"Spring Symphony"
1841

Instrumentation

Paul Lewis Piano
Antonello Manacorda Conductor

Price information:

Tickets for young adults U29 for €8 Prices €60/48/38/26/20/12