Classical Concerts in

Oslo

Classical Hour Joana Mallwitz Francesco Piemontesi Sergei Rachmaninoff

In 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) traveled on his first US tour. He brought along a newly written piece—Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. He was the soloist at the premiere in New York, not knowing that he would emigrate to the US nine years later after the Russian Revolution.Piano Concerto No. 3 opens with a simple, melancholic melody, but during the next 45 minutes, the soloist must master some of the most spectacular music ever written for the piano. Few pianists tried it in the first years, but it gradually became more popular and performed.

Joana Mallwitz Francesco Piemontesi Sergei Rachmaninoff Maurice Ravel

In 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) traveled on his first US tour. He brought along a newly written piece—Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. He was the soloist at the premiere in New York, not knowing that he would emigrate to the US nine years later after the Russian Revolution.Piano Concerto No. 3 opens with a simple, melancholic melody, but during the next 45 minutes, the soloist must master some of the most spectacular music ever written for the piano. Few pianists tried it in the first years, but it gradually became more popular and performed. “I cannot imagine a more lively, problematic, human, artistically poignant and, in the best sense, dramatic figure … Mathis placed himself at the service of the powerful machinery of state and church and was apparently able to resist the pressures of the institutions.” These are the words Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) used to describe the Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald, who inspired him to write a symphony and an opera with the title Mathis der Maler. The symphony is based on Grünewald’s most famous artwork, the Isenheim Altarpiece.Both artists bore witness to great upheavals - Grünewald lived through the German Peasants’ War in the 1520s, Hindemith during the rise of Nazism. Hindemith’s radical musical style, his provocative statements, and his wife’s Jewish background put him in a gradually more difficult position.In line with social developments, Hindemith in Mathis der Maler took a step in a more traditional direction, with elements of German folk tunes and music that may send the mind to Brahms and Wagner. The symphony was a great success with the public at its premiere in Berlin in 1934. ”Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees (...) an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth (...) in an imperial court, about 1855.”This is the introduction Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) wrote in the sheet music for La Valse. Already in 1906, he started on a tribute to Vienna, the waltz, and the “waltz king” Johann Strauss Jr.. La Valse premiered in Paris in the fall of 1920 as a standalone orchestral work. The recently ended World War I ended Vienna as the capital of a great empire. In Ravel, the waltz undergoes an extreme transformation that ends in a breakdown. Many in the audience experienced the play as a description of the demise of pre-war culture.

Marta Gardolińska Jeneba Kanneh-Mason Joseph Haydn Florence Price Ludwig van Beethoven

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) finished the oratory The Creation in 1798, inspired by great experiences with G.F. Handel's oratorios during his stay in London. The lyrics are based on the first chapters of the Bible, and the opening for the orchestra describes the darkness and emptiness before the creation. In 2009, a couple were cleaning out a run-down building in the small American town of St. Anne when they came across a large collection of sheet music. The collection turned out to be many unreleased works by the composer Florence Price (1887-1953), who had used the building as a summer house. One of the works they discovered, which has experienced a renaissance in recent years, is Florence Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement from 1934. In the work, Price combines a romantic tonal language with Afro-American folk tunes. The composer was the soloist during the premiere in Chicago. "How happy I shall be when I can walk for a while between bushes and woods, under trees, through grass and around rocks,” Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote to a friend in 1810. The composer went out to parks or forests and fields as often as he could. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, with the nickname Pastoral Symphony, is the most apparent expression of his love for nature. The first and last movements describe the joy of being out in the open; in the movements in between, he describes, among other things, a scene by the stream, folk dancing, and a heavy thunderstorm.

Klaus Mäkelä Oslo Philharmonic Choir Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Kaija Saariaho

Of the more than 600 works written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), none is shrouded in more mystery than the Requiem, which was unfinished when he died. How much of the music did he write himself? Did he know who commissioned the work? Did he write a Mass for the dead for himself?The commission did not come from the composer Antonio Salieri, who is portrayed as the villain in the hit film Amadeus, but from Count Franz von Walsegg, who commissioned the piece to commemorate his recently deceased wife.Mozart only managed to complete the first movement, but left detailed instructions for his student, Franz Xaver Süssmayer, who finished the piece. Mozart’s Requiem is one of the composer’s most original pieces with great musical and emotional range.“There is no other music like it. Every show is refreshing and remarkable," the opera director Peter Sellars said about Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023). Saariaho is considered one of the greatest composers of our time and is regularly a part of the Oslo Philharmonic's program. Kaija Saariaho wrote the orchestral piece Orion for The Cleveland Orchestra in 2002. In Greek mythology, Orion is a human, the son of the sea god Poseidon, and a fearless hunter who is set as a constellation in the sky after his death.In the first movement, "Memento mori" ("remember the inevitability of death") develops a mystic introduction to a powerful outburst. The second movement, "Winter sky," is an atmospheric description of the starry sky, while the intense third movement, "Hunter," describes Orion's adventure as a hunter.

Classical Hour Klaus Mäkelä Dmitri Shostakovich

In 1955, Dmitri Shostakovich planned to write a symphony for the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Symphony No. 11 was not ready until the 40th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution in 1957, but the symphony was still named “The Year 1905”.On the surface, the symphony is in line with the authorities’ view. Still, Shostakovich’s use of freedom songs from the prison gave many associations to current events: the composer is said to have suggested that the music was a response to the Soviet Union’s brutal invasion of Hungary in 1956.The symphony opens with the eerie atmosphere in front of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg on the eve of the revolution. The second movement describes the brutal massacre on “the bloody Sunday”. The third movement is based on a revolutionary mournful march, while the powerful final movement ambiguously celebrates the revolution’s future triumph.

Klaus Mäkelä Pyotr Tchaikovsky Dmitri Shostakovich

“I composed the Serenade from a natural impulse, something deep from within, and therefore I dare to believe that it is not free from containing something truly valuable,” Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote to his supporter Nadezhda von Mack during the work with Serenade for Strings in the fall of 1880. When the piece was finished some weeks later, he wrote: “I just love this serenade so terribly, and long for it to see the light of day as soon as possible.” The wish came true - during a visit to Moscow, an orchestra surprised him by playing it at a private concert.The first movement is a tribute to Mozart, according to Tchaikovsky an imitation of his style. The second movement is a waltz reminiscent of the composer’s famous waltzes from The Nutcracker and The Swan Lake. After an elegiac third movement, he uses Russian folk tunes in the finale, “Tema russo.”In 1955, Dmitri Shostakovich planned to write a symphony for the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Symphony No. 11 was not ready until the 40th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution in 1957, but the symphony was still named “The Year 1905”.On the surface, the symphony is in line with the authorities’ view. Still, Shostakovich’s use of freedom songs from the prison gave many associations to current events: the composer is said to have suggested that the music was a response to the Soviet Union’s brutal invasion of Hungary in 1956.The symphony opens with the eerie atmosphere in front of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg on the eve of the revolution. The second movement describes the brutal massacre on “the bloody Sunday”. The third movement is based on a revolutionary mournful march, while the powerful final movement ambiguously celebrates the revolution’s future triumph.

Stroller concert

Welcome to the Oslo Philharmonic’s chamber concert for parents with small children - our classical concert offer for families with the youngest children. Here, you can have a new experience together with your baby. We have adapted the music for sensitive ears and provided a smaller orchestra so that it is suitable for both adults and children.We perform a selection of classical pieces, both well-known and unknown, in a format suitable for new parents and babbling (or sleeping) little concert-goers. The stroller must be parked in the dressing room, but you are welcome to bring blankets, bags, pillows, pacifiers, bottles, and so on into the hall. For this to be the best possible experience for everyone, we have some tips here:Feel free to leave the room if the child feels unwell, cries, or is not having a good dayYou can go in and out of the hall as often as you like.We encourage you to leave the toys with sound in the pram.You will find changing areas outside in the foyer.Welcome to a pleasant music experience together with your baby!

Stroller concert

Welcome to the Oslo Philharmonic’s chamber concert for parents with small children - our classical concert offer for families with the youngest children. Here, you can have a new experience together with your baby. We have adapted the music for sensitive ears and provided a smaller orchestra so that it is suitable for both adults and children.We perform a selection of classical pieces, both well-known and unknown, in a format suitable for new parents and babbling (or sleeping) little concert-goers. The stroller must be parked in the dressing room, but you are welcome to bring blankets, bags, pillows, pacifiers, bottles, and so on into the hall. For this to be the best possible experience for everyone, we have some tips here:Feel free to leave the room if the child feels unwell, cries, or is not having a good dayYou can go in and out of the hall as often as you like.We encourage you to leave the toys with sound in the pram.You will find changing areas outside in the foyer.Welcome to a pleasant music experience together with your baby!

Family Day The Carnival of the Animals

Ernst van Tiel Oslo Philharmonic Choir Film classic Amadeus

Nobody knows for certain what caused the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). That was a perfect starting point for countless hypotheses about the cause of death in the years that followed. The most piquant rumor was that a jealous composer colleague was behind it – Antonio Salieri (1750–1825).The theory was not particularly likely, but an all the better story. Særlig sannsynlig var ikke teorien, men en desto bedre historie. Aleksandr Pusjkin skrev et skuespill basert på ryktene, Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov skrev opera. Og i 1984 lanserte Milos Forman musikkfilmen Amadeus, som ble en enorm suksess og vant åtte Oscar.Amadeus gjennomsyres av Mozarts musikk fra start til slutt. Den mørke stemningen i rammefortellingen med den aldrende Salieri understrekes av Mozarts Symfoni nr. 25. Det konfliktfylte forholdet til faren utdypes med scener fra operaen Don Giovanni.Et sentralt element i fortellingen er Mozarts Requiem, som han ikke rakk å fullføre før sin død. I filmen er Salieri den hemmelighetsfulle oppdragsgiveren som driver Mozart i døden. Amadeus er en uimotståelig blanding av fiksjon og virkelighet, av stor filmkunst og musikk. Amadeus Live is a production of Avex Classics International.

Ernst van Tiel Oslo Philharmonic Choir Film classic Amadeus

Nobody knows for certain what caused the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). That was a perfect starting point for countless hypotheses about the cause of death in the years that followed. The most piquant rumor was that a jealous composer colleague was behind it – Antonio Salieri (1750–1825).The theory was not particularly likely, but an all the better story. Særlig sannsynlig var ikke teorien, men en desto bedre historie. Aleksandr Pusjkin skrev et skuespill basert på ryktene, Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov skrev opera. Og i 1984 lanserte Milos Forman musikkfilmen Amadeus, som ble en enorm suksess og vant åtte Oscar.Amadeus gjennomsyres av Mozarts musikk fra start til slutt. Den mørke stemningen i rammefortellingen med den aldrende Salieri understrekes av Mozarts Symfoni nr. 25. Det konfliktfylte forholdet til faren utdypes med scener fra operaen Don Giovanni.Et sentralt element i fortellingen er Mozarts Requiem, som han ikke rakk å fullføre før sin død. I filmen er Salieri den hemmelighetsfulle oppdragsgiveren som driver Mozart i døden. Amadeus er en uimotståelig blanding av fiksjon og virkelighet, av stor filmkunst og musikk. Amadeus Live is a production of Avex Classics International.

Ernst van Tiel Oslo Philharmonic Choir Film classic Amadeus

Nobody knows for certain what caused the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). That was a perfect starting point for countless hypotheses about the cause of death in the years that followed. The most piquant rumor was that a jealous composer colleague was behind it – Antonio Salieri (1750–1825).The theory was not particularly likely, but an all the better story. Særlig sannsynlig var ikke teorien, men en desto bedre historie. Aleksandr Pusjkin skrev et skuespill basert på ryktene, Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov skrev opera. Og i 1984 lanserte Milos Forman musikkfilmen Amadeus, som ble en enorm suksess og vant åtte Oscar.Amadeus gjennomsyres av Mozarts musikk fra start til slutt. Den mørke stemningen i rammefortellingen med den aldrende Salieri understrekes av Mozarts Symfoni nr. 25. Det konfliktfylte forholdet til faren utdypes med scener fra operaen Don Giovanni.Et sentralt element i fortellingen er Mozarts Requiem, som han ikke rakk å fullføre før sin død. I filmen er Salieri den hemmelighetsfulle oppdragsgiveren som driver Mozart i døden. Amadeus er en uimotståelig blanding av fiksjon og virkelighet, av stor filmkunst og musikk. Amadeus Live is a production of Avex Classics International.

Dmitry Matvienko Eldbjørg Hemsing Hjalmar Borgstrøm Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Hjalmar Borgstrøm (1864–1925) was one of Kristiania’s (today’s Oslo) most prominent music personalities at the start of the 20th century. He was a highly respected music critic, and with symphonic poems inspired by late German romanticism, he became one of the critical composers of his time. Borgstrøm wrote his Violin Concerto in G Major in 1914. It was premiered at the event celebrating the Constitution’s 100th anniversary and only performed a few times in the next hundred years. Lately, Eldbjørn Hemsing has contributed to re-establishing the concerto in the classical repertoire and recorded it in 2018. In 1865, Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) completed his music studies, he got his first job as a music teacher and his music was performed in public for the first time. The following year, his confidence was high enough for him to take on his biggest challenge yet: writing a symphony.“No other work cost so much toil and so much suffering,” said his brother Modest about the project. During the summer of 1866, Pyotr worked day and night, suffering from trouble sleeping, hallucinations and such intense headaches that he thought he was going to die. Since then he never worked at night again.The melancholic but lively Symphony No. 1 in G minor with the subtitle Winter Daydreams was finished later that year and premiered in 1868. The first movement, “Dreams of a Winter Journey”, paints frozen landscapes with Tchaikovsky’s unmistakable brush.

Klaus Mäkelä Emanuel Ax Jean Sibelius Anders Hillborg

“…vivacious, funny, heroic, eloquent, plain-spoken, thoughtful and wholly irresistible…This is a work in which constructive ingenuity and the pleasure principle walk arm in arm…” one reviewer wrote after the premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in the fall of 2023.Hillborg wrote the concerto for the pianist legend Emanuel “Manny” Ax, who is also tonight’s soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic. Hillborg writes about the subtitle The MAX Concert: “It suggests – in powerful ALL CAPS – the exuberance and genius of the outstanding pianist.”In the last few decades, Anders Hillborg (b. 1954) has become one of the most versatile and most-performed composers. He has written music for film and television and collaborated with pop artists like Eva Dahlgren. His orchestral pieces have a film score-like visual feel.Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) often found inspiration in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, and his music has almost become synonymous with Finnish nature and mythology. In the 1890s, he wrote four symphonic poems about Lemminkäinen, one of the most famous heroes in Kalevala. Lemminkäinen is a fearless adventurer and skirt-chaser, a sort of Finnish Don Juan. Lemminkäinen does not form a coherent narrative but independent episodes. Sibelius is more concerned with recreating the mood and atmosphere than telling a story.The second of the four symphonic poems in Lemminkäinen is the most famous and often performed as an independent work: Swan of Tuonela, in which Lemminkäinen meets the enigmatic swan guarding the realm of the dead. The swan is portrayed through a famous solo for English horn.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste Marianne Beate Kielland Oslo Filharmoniske Kor Gustav Mahler

“A symphony is like a world - it must contain everything,” Gustav Mahler said to his colleague Jean Sibelius in 1907. None of Mahler’s symphonies is closer to this ideal than Symphony No. 3, which, with its six movements and a total duration of about a hundred minutes, is Mahler’s longest. In 1895, he expressed the same idea to Natalie Bauer-Lechner during the work with Symphony No. 3: “... for me, «symphony» means constructing a world with all the technical means at one’s disposal. The eternally new and changing content determines its own form.”Mahler changed a lot in the symphony up until its premiere in 1902—among other things, the movement titles, which he eventually removed completely. But the working titles have been a joy for posterity since they give an insight into Mahler’s sources of inspiration for the music. “Pan Awakes, Summer Marches In” was the name he gave the first movement. The working titles suggest ascent:What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me.What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me.What the Man Tells Me.What the Angels Tell Me.What Love Tells Me. The first movement lasts half an hour and is almost like a symphony in itself. The second and third movements are shorter and lighter in form. In the fourth movement the soloist sings lyrics from Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra. In the fight movement, the soloist is accompanied by a “choir of angels” (women’s choir and boy’s choir). The last movement is a slow Adagio where Mahler’s world is gathered in a peaceful ending.

Marie Jacquot Veronika Eberle Kristine Tjøgersen Sergei Prokofiev Camille Saint-Saëns

Between Trees was the international breakthrough for the composer Kristine Tjøgersen (b. 1982) from Oslo. The Norwegian Radio Orchestra premiered the orchestral piece and was selected as “most outstanding work” at the prestigious award ceremony International Rostrum of Composers. Among the trees in the forest, “it teems with roots connected in a network of fungal threads,” the composer says. “These threads connect trees and plants so that they can communicate - like the forest’s own internet.” The piece is rich in unusual instrument sounds and techniques. She continues: “Fungal threads grow in pulses, so there is a rhythmically pulsating life unfolding beneath our feet. The opening is therefore buoyant and airy, like communicating trees. We then move over the ground, and hear flapping wings and various birds.”When the Russian Revolution was a fact in 1917, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) left the eye of the storm, Petrograd (today’s St. Petersburg), and traveled to the far east, with a steam boat on the rivers Volga and kama towards the Ural Mountains. In these calm surroundings, he wrote his most famous work. There is little in the Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major that bears witness to the troubled times - perhaps excluding the wild second movement. The first and third movement contains some of Prokofiev’s most dreamy, romantic music, and some of his most memorable melodies.“I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have accomplished here, I will never achieve again,” Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) said about his Symphony No. 3 in C minor, the “Organ Symphony”, which premiered in London in 1886. This would be his last symphony and one of his most famous pieces.After growing up as a child prodigy on the piano, Saint-Saëns got the most prestigious organist job in France, at the La Madeleine church in Paris. The composer Franz Liszt heard him play there and called him “the world’s best organist”. Symphony No. 3 culminates in a powerful ending with piano and organ.

Easter Concert Vasily Petrenko Oslo Philharmonic Choir Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner (1813–1883) first encountered the story of the knight Parsifal in 1845. In the spring of 1857, he sketched an opera based on the tale, and 25 years later, on 26 July 1882, Parsifal premiered in Wagner’s own opera house in Bayreuth. The composer himself did not call Parsifal an opera, but a Bühnenweihfestspiel, a “stage-festival-play” which was exclusively performed at Bayreuth. The work has a strong spiritual dimension characterized by Wagner’s interest in Christianity, Buddhism and philosophy. Parsifal is one of the Grail brothers, the knights who protected the Holy Grail, the cup from which, according to legend, Jesus drank from at the Last Supper, and in which his blood is collected. Richard Wagner wrote the lyrics himself, loosely based on medieval verse novels. Wagner describes Parsifal’s development and spiritual growth from being an inexperienced knight to, through learning suffering and compassion, understanding the Holy Grails deeper meaning and becoming its guardian.In the third act, Parsifal becomes a redeemer for the Grail community and heals King Amfortas. The action takes place on Good Friday, which emphasizes central themes – spiritual renewal and redemption. The music is played in a concert version, i.e. without scenery or costumes.

Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas Hilary Hahn Jean Sibelius Antonín Dvořák Ludwig van Beethoven

“It’s lush, it’s romantic, it has conflict and lightness. There is a physicality to this piece that’s really fun.” This is how tonight’s soloist Hilary Hahn described Antonín Dvořáks Violin Concerto when she recorded the piece in 2022. Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) played the violin, and worked as an orchestral violist for ten years before his breakthrough as a composer. The Violin Concerto in A minor from 1883 is, like much of Dvořák’s music, strongly influenced by Czech musical heritage, with lively melodies and strong contrasts. The concert opens with the short but eventful orchestral piece Pan and Ekho from 1906 by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). The piece is based on Greek mythology and the wild god Pan’s romantic advances towards the unhappy nymph Ekho, who can only repeat what others say.Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) started working on his Symphony No. 7 during a refreshing stay in the spa town of Teplitz. He conducted the symphony premiere in 1813 at a charity concert for wounded soldiers who had returned from the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon’s failed crusade toward Russia, the tides had turned. Symphony No. 7 was premiered along with a piece celebrating the Battle of Vitoria. The concert hit the zeitgeist perfectly and was a huge success. Beethoven referred to the symphony as one of his best works. The symphony opens with a slow, suggestive introduction. The melancholic second movement Allegretto is the symphony’s most famous – at the first concerts it was cheered as an encore. The last movement is perhaps the most thrilling music Beethoven wrote.

Stroller concert

Welcome to the Oslo Philharmonic’s chamber concert for parents with small children - our classical concert offer for families with the youngest children. Here, you can have a new experience together with your baby. We have adapted the music for sensitive ears and provided a smaller orchestra so that it is suitable for both adults and children.We perform a selection of classical pieces, both well-known and unknown, in a format suitable for new parents and babbling (or sleeping) little concert-goers. The stroller must be parked in the dressing room, but you are welcome to bring blankets, bags, pillows, pacifiers, bottles, and so on into the hall. For this to be the best possible experience for everyone, we have some tips here:Feel free to leave the room if the child feels unwell, cries, or is not having a good dayYou can go in and out of the hall as often as you like.We encourage you to leave the toys with sound in the pram.You will find changing areas outside in the foyer.Welcome to a pleasant music experience together with your baby!

Classical Hour Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider Pyotr Tchaikovsky

“The music from this ballet will become one of my best works. The subject is so poetic, so well suited to music, that I was entirely engrossed in composing it, and wrote with an ardor and passion which always results,” wrote Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1841-1893) during the work with Sleeping Beauty.With Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky set a completely new standard for the ballet genre and greatly raised the status of ballet music. Sleeping Beauty premiered in 1890. The Sleeping Beauty Suite, composed after his death, features five orchestral excerpts from the ballet.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider Ting-Wei Chen Richard Strauss Carl Nielsen Pyotr Tchaikovsky

According to legend, the charming swindler and prankster Till Eulenspiegel lived in the 14th century and is the hero of almost a hundred folk tales. In the tone poem Till Eulenspiegel from 1896, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) cheerfully portrays him with horn and clarinet. Till Eulenspiegel is one of Strauss’ most humorous works, as full of inventions and surprises as the main character. Till dresses up, flirts with the ladies and makes fun of the scholars before he is put on trial and sentenced to death. The ending is ambiguous – does he manage to escape?In 1921, Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) was captivated by a concert with the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. He knew the musicians, and wrote a piece for the quiet in which each one is described with music. He wanted to write one solo concerto for each – he managed two and started with the flutist.“Eventually, the orchestral movement also becomes fuller and more moving, but this does not last long, because the flute cannot deny its nature (...) the composer must therefore adapt to its gentle nature,” Nielsen wrote about the Flute Concerto from 1926, a gentle and cheerful work in which there is a storm in between.“The music from this ballet will become one of my best works. The subject is so poetic, so well suited to music, that I was entirely engrossed in composing it, and wrote with an ardor and passion which always results,” wrote Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1841-1893) during the work with Sleeping Beauty.With Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky set a completely new standard for the ballet genre and greatly raised the status of ballet music. Sleeping Beauty premiered in 1890. The Sleeping Beauty Suite, composed after his death, features five orchestral excerpts from the ballet.

Classical Hour Eivind Aadland Paul Lewis Ludwig van Beethoven

Already at 13, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was so skilled at the piano that he could earn his own money as a musician in the court orchestra in his hometown of Bonn. And he had enough confidence as a composer to start writing a piano concerto.Like Mozart, Beethoven used his concerts to demonstrate that he was the best pianist of his time. His role model also inspired the music, but Beethoven’s distinctive features, such as strong contrasts and dramatic shifts, are clear already in the first concertos.Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat Major was premiered in Leipzig in 1811. At this time, Beethoven had lost so much of his hearing that he could not play himself. The piano concerto opens with a powerful and impressive prelude for the soloist and was, therefore, nicknamed “the Emperor Concerto.”

Eivind Aadland Paul Lewis Ludwig van Beethoven

Already at 13, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was so skilled at the piano that he could earn his own money as a musician in the court orchestra in his hometown of Bonn. And he had enough confidence as a composer to start writing a piano concerto.When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, the first attempt was left in the desk drawer. In the suitcase was Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Major, which he wrote late in the 1780s and revised for years. It was not printed until 1801, after Piano Concerto No. 1.Like Mozart, Beethoven used his concerts to demonstrate that he was the best pianist of his time. His role model also inspired the music, but Beethoven’s distinctive features, such as strong contrasts and dramatic shifts, are clear already in the first concertos.In the beginning, Beethoven always played the soloist part himself, and he played it from memory—the part was not even written down. None of the piano concertos was printed until 1801. He most likely wrote Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor in 1800 and played it for the first time in 1803.

Eivind Aadland Paul Lewis Ludwig van Beethoven

Already at 13, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was so skilled at the piano that he could earn his own money as a musician in the court orchestra in his hometown of Bonn. And he had enough confidence as a composer to start writing a piano concerto.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was Beethoven’s great role model. In the 1780s, Mozart dazzled Vienna as a soloist in his own piano concertos. In 1795, Beethoven gave his debut concert in the city, probably with the newly written Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major on the program.Like Mozart, Beethoven used his concerts to demonstrate that he was the best pianist of his time. His role model also inspired the music, but Beethoven’s distinctive features, such as strong contrasts and dramatic shifts, are clear already in the first concertos.When he finished his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major in 1806, Beethoven was a mature and recognized composer. He premiered the work at a major concert in Vienna just before Christmas in 1808, and it was a great success. This is the most poetic of the five, beginning softly with the piano alone.