Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider plays Tchaikovsky

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.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider has met with approval as a violinist for a long time. But in recent years, the Danish musician has also built up an impressive career as a conductor. He now swaps his violin for the »huge paintbrush«, as he calls the conductor’s baton, and can be heard on the rostrum for the first time. For his debut at the head of an orchestra, Szeps-Znaider has chosen what is perhaps the most popular symphony written by Tchaikovsky, that epitome of grand emotion and passion unleashed in music. In his Fifth Symphony, the Russian composer takes the listener from »the complete surrender to Fate« in the first movement and melodies full of effusive love in the second movement to a mood of radiant triumph in the finale. »Subito con forza!« (suddenly with force!) we want to cry when the E minor symphony’s main motif, so dark and gloomy at the outset, is transformed into a triumphant hymn in E major in the final bars. Of course, it remains a matter of opinion whether Fate itself wins the day or whether these sounds manifest the happy overcoming of all providence.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider in Beethoven's Violin Concerto

The SummerConcerts powered by VriendenLoterij present two months of wonderful concerts, from classical to jazz and from pop music to film scores. Top musicians from the Netherlands and around the world bring you all your favourite classical pieces, as well as tributes to Leonard Cohen and The Beatles, and all your favourite film music.We also present a host of young talent in our summer concerts, including youth orchestras from South Africa and Turkey, and top young classical soloists. After many of the concerts, we offer a meet-and-greet with the artists in an informal setting, or an afterparty with DJ in the Entrance Hall. In one of the world’s finest concert halls, there’s something for everyone this summer at The Concertgebouw!

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider conducts Brahms and Schumann

Johann Sebastian Bach knew very well the consoling power that music has. He was virtually constantly composing new pieces – often following suggestions, as in the case of the six-part ricercar, a part of his »Musical Sacrifice«: none other than Frederick the Great inspired him in 1747 to compose this masterful fugue, which we perform in Anton Webern‘s colourful orchestration – before Schumann‘s symphony, in whose music Tchaikovsky felt »the echoes of mysterious processes in the life of our souls«. Schumann often poured his suffering into music, and composing to him was as a way of overcoming a crisis, such as in 1844/45: he had suffered a breakdown, the after-effects of which burdened him for a long time. But then he was suddenly overwhelmed by a creative impulse: »For some days now, it has been drumming and trumpeting within me.« This was the genesis of his second symphony, the result of musical self-therapy in a »dark time« when he initially continued to feel »half-sick« but gradually began to feel »better again«. Indeed, the symphony seems like a desperate struggle against tormenting demons – and swings ambiguously back and forth between melancholic and heroic passages. However, the evil spirits were not to leave Schumann: He died in a mental hospital in 1856 – at the time when Brahms was tinkering with his first piano concerto. The Adagio is thus seen as a soulful prayer for the deceased friend. Otherwise, though, the brilliant work captivates with passionate melodies and great gestures that strive to chase away all gloomy thoughts – completely in the spirit of Schumann‘s optimistic statement: »Sending light into the depths of the human heart – the artist‘s profession!«

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider conducts Brahms and Schumann

Johann Sebastian Bach knew very well the consoling power that music has. He was virtually constantly composing new pieces – often following suggestions, as in the case of the six-part ricercar, a part of his »Musical Sacrifice«: none other than Frederick the Great inspired him in 1747 to compose this masterful fugue, which we perform in Anton Webern‘s colourful orchestration – before Schumann‘s symphony, in whose music Tchaikovsky felt »the echoes of mysterious processes in the life of our souls«. Schumann often poured his suffering into music, and composing to him was as a way of overcoming a crisis, such as in 1844/45: he had suffered a breakdown, the after-effects of which burdened him for a long time. But then he was suddenly overwhelmed by a creative impulse: »For some days now, it has been drumming and trumpeting within me.« This was the genesis of his second symphony, the result of musical self-therapy in a »dark time« when he initially continued to feel »half-sick« but gradually began to feel »better again«. Indeed, the symphony seems like a desperate struggle against tormenting demons – and swings ambiguously back and forth between melancholic and heroic passages. However, the evil spirits were not to leave Schumann: He died in a mental hospital in 1856 – at the time when Brahms was tinkering with his first piano concerto. The Adagio is thus seen as a soulful prayer for the deceased friend. Otherwise, though, the brilliant work captivates with passionate melodies and great gestures that strive to chase away all gloomy thoughts – completely in the spirit of Schumann‘s optimistic statement: »Sending light into the depths of the human heart – the artist‘s profession!«

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Piotr Anderszewski / Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider has met with approval as a violinist for a long time. But in recent years, the Danish musician has also built up an impressive career as a conductor. He now swaps his violin for the »huge paintbrush«, as he calls the conductor’s baton, and can be heard on the rostrum for the first time. For his debut at the head of an orchestra, Szeps-Znaider has chosen what is perhaps the most popular symphony written by Tchaikovsky, that epitome of grand emotion and passion unleashed in music. In his Fifth Symphony, the Russian composer takes the listener from »the complete surrender to Fate« in the first movement and melodies full of effusive love in the second movement to a mood of radiant triumph in the finale. »Subito con forza!« (suddenly with force!) we want to cry when the E minor symphony’s main motif, so dark and gloomy at the outset, is transformed into a triumphant hymn in E major in the final bars. Composer Unsuk Chin chose precisely this Italian expression marking as the title of the 5-minute opening piece that she wrote in Beethoven Year 2020, making free use of several Beethoven quotations. And Beethoven is the next composer on the programme: exceptional Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski returns once again to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra to play the First Piano Concerto by the titan of the First Viennese School, written when Beethoven was still under the age of 30. Anderszewski once said, »The piano is a percussion instrument that pretends it can sing, but that’s just an assertion, you know. Even if one secretly wishes that it really could sing.« Anyone hearing Anderszewski play the concerto’s wonderful largo will probably have to say that he is simply toying with us here.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Piotr Anderszewski / Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider has met with approval as a violinist for a long time. But in recent years, the Danish musician has also built up an impressive career as a conductor. He now swaps his violin for the »huge paintbrush«, as he calls the conductor’s baton, and can be heard on the rostrum for the first time. For his debut at the head of an orchestra, Szeps-Znaider has chosen what is perhaps the most popular symphony written by Tchaikovsky, that epitome of grand emotion and passion unleashed in music. In his Fifth Symphony, the Russian composer takes the listener from »the complete surrender to Fate« in the first movement and melodies full of effusive love in the second movement to a mood of radiant triumph in the finale. »Subito con forza!« (suddenly with force!) we want to cry when the E minor symphony’s main motif, so dark and gloomy at the outset, is transformed into a triumphant hymn in E major in the final bars. Composer Unsuk Chin chose precisely this Italian expression marking as the title of the 5-minute opening piece that she wrote in Beethoven Year 2020, making free use of several Beethoven quotations. And Beethoven is the next composer on the programme: exceptional Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski returns once again to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra to play the First Piano Concerto by the titan of the First Viennese School, written when Beethoven was still under the age of 30. Anderszewski once said, »The piano is a percussion instrument that pretends it can sing, but that’s just an assertion, you know. Even if one secretly wishes that it really could sing.« Anyone hearing Anderszewski play the concerto’s wonderful largo will probably have to say that he is simply toying with us here.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Gautier Capuçon & Daniil Trifonov

Rudolf Buchbinder, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider & Gautier Capuçon

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.