Iván Fischer & Kirill Gerstein

Iván Fischer & Kirill Gerstein

The genesis of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto proved to be an arduous affair. Originally Brahms wanted to write a sonata for two pianos, and then a symphony, until the work finally became what it is today: a classic of its genre – and a masterpiece of the concerto literature. For keyboard virtuoso Kirill Gerstein, it is an “incredibly noble, introspective piece with wonderfully lyrical motifs that subtly lie beneath the surface like watermarks.” It was a defining work for Brahms, who was 25 years old at the time. Conductor Iván Fischer juxtaposes it with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony: a work that enabled Dvořák to finally step out of the shadow of his friend and patron Brahms, and probably one of his most famous and most popular due to its lively cheerfulness, easy-going optimism, and unbroken joie de vivre.

Iván Fischer & Kirill Gerstein

The genesis of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto proved to be an arduous affair. Originally Brahms wanted to write a sonata for two pianos, and then a symphony, until the work finally became what it is today: a classic of its genre – and a masterpiece of the concerto literature. For keyboard virtuoso Kirill Gerstein, it is an “incredibly noble, introspective piece with wonderfully lyrical motifs that subtly lie beneath the surface like watermarks.” It was a defining work for Brahms, who was 25 years old at the time. Conductor Iván Fischer juxtaposes it with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony: a work that enabled Dvořák to finally step out of the shadow of his friend and patron Brahms, and probably one of his most famous and most popular due to its lively cheerfulness, easy-going optimism, and unbroken joie de vivre.

Iván Fischer

A Beethoven festival with Iván Fischer! This Hungarian conductor has acquired international fame for his readings of the classical-romantic repertoire and makes guest appearances with all the great orchestras. His BRSO programme features the Eighth Symphony, full of merriment and understated humour, and the Fifth, where Fate knocks at the door and the almost martial finale seems to find the composer “grabbing destiny by the throat”. Between these two mutually contradictory masterpieces is the revenge aria Ah! Perfido!, to words by Pietro Metastasio. The soprano is Christiane Karg.

Iván Fischer

A Beethoven festival with Iván Fischer! This Hungarian conductor has acquired international fame for his readings of the classical-romantic repertoire and makes guest appearances with all the great orchestras. His BRSO programme features the Eighth Symphony, full of merriment and understated humour, and the Fifth, where Fate knocks at the door and the almost martial finale seems to find the composer “grabbing destiny by the throat”. Between these two mutually contradictory masterpieces is the revenge aria Ah! Perfido!, to words by Pietro Metastasio. The soprano is Christiane Karg.

Iván Fischer

They were born in the same year (1860), enrolled at Vienna Conservatory at the same time and temporarily lived in the same flat: Gustav Mahler and Hugo Wolf. Then their paths led them in completely different directions: Mahler advanced to become the most successful conductor and greatest symphonist of his era, while Wolf, having failed in other genres, devoted his creative energy to the art song, in which field he left behind a uniquely vibrant oeuvre. As was common in his day, Wolf orchestrated several of his own lieder. Our programme reunites these two disparate contemporaries and shows what they composed at the same time: Mahler’s First and Wolf’s settings of Goethe and Mörike were all written around the year 1888.

Iván Fischer

They were born in the same year (1860), enrolled at Vienna Conservatory at the same time and temporarily lived in the same flat: Gustav Mahler and Hugo Wolf. Then their paths led them in completely different directions: Mahler advanced to become the most successful conductor and greatest symphonist of his era, while Wolf, having failed in other genres, devoted his creative energy to the art song, in which field he left behind a uniquely vibrant oeuvre. As was common in his day, Wolf orchestrated several of his own lieder. Our programme reunites these two disparate contemporaries and shows what they composed at the same time: Mahler’s First and Wolf’s settings of Goethe and Mörike were all written around the year 1888.

Antonello Manacorda & Kirill Gerstein

Antonello Manacorda & Kirill Gerstein