Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays Bartók, Gustavo Gimeno conducts Mahler 4

Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays Luca Francesconi

»You must offer something good to the body so that the soul wants to live in it.« This quote became famous through Winston Churchill – but it originally originated from a Spanish mystic of the 16th century. Fittingly, we play an exciting violin concerto entitled »Corpo Elettrico« from Italian composer Luca Francesconi, born in 1956. The piece revolves around magical metamorphoses of energy processes: It all starts harmlessly at first, but as it progresses, the violin part, which at some point resembles a machine and becomes very explosive, sounds like a guitar solo by Jimi Hendrix. A tour de force with electronics and megaphones as well as an unbelievable pull – written for Patricia Kopatchinskaja in 2020, who continuously shakes up the classical music business with her uncompromising artistic attitude and once said: »When I play, I have to have something to say. It has to come from my whole body and soul.« The sound fireworks keep going after this – with Beethoven‘s most passionate symphony. His Seventh was given numerous programmatic interpretations in literature, which definitely associated material delights: they range from a wedding celebration and a knight‘s festival to the depiction of an »ancient wine feast«, with the finale heard as a »drinking binge«. Beethoven completed the symphony in 1812 – the year in which he also wrote his desperate letter to the »immortal beloved«, which for him meant the final renunciation of personal happiness in love. Nevertheless, he accomplished an optimistic work with his Seventh, because it was clear to him: »Music should strike fire from the human soul«.

Lahav Shani conducts Mahler 4

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Elder conducts Mahler

Goodnight, Vienna: Sir Mark Elder conducts Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, as the BBC Symphony Orchestra brings its season to an unforgettable close.

Gustavo Dudamel conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fifth

Beethoven’s dramatic and heroic Egmont Overture is well-known and much loved. However, very few listeners know the extensive incidental music that Beethoven also wrote Goethe’s drama Egmont. Gustavo Dudamel gives us the opportunity to hear how vividly the composer depicts the fate of the Dutch prince Egmont in music: his triumphs, his love, his failure. Fate also plays a central role in Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, symbolised by a relentless motif that runs through the entire work. The composer uses it to mirror his own struggles with himself and the world – passionately, stirringly, movingly.

Gustavo Dudamel conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fifth

Beethoven’s dramatic and heroic Egmont Overture is well-known and much loved. However, very few listeners know the extensive incidental music that Beethoven also wrote Goethe’s drama Egmont. Gustavo Dudamel gives us the opportunity to hear how vividly the composer depicts the fate of the Dutch prince Egmont in music: his triumphs, his love, his failure. Fate also plays a central role in Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, symbolised by a relentless motif that runs through the entire work. The composer uses it to mirror his own struggles with himself and the world – passionately, stirringly, movingly.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Mahler

Throughout the 60-year span of his collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim has never conducted the music of Gustav Mahler. Until now. Two late works can be heard, beginning with the expressive Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony. Painful melancholy prevails here, as it does in Das Lied von der Erde (Songs of the Earth), which looks back on the lost beauty of life. Formally located between a song cycle and a symphony, this work was, according to Mahler, “probably the most personal thing I have done so far”.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Mahler

Throughout the 60-year span of his collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim has never conducted the music of Gustav Mahler. Until now. Two late works can be heard, beginning with the expressive Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony. Painful melancholy prevails here, as it does in Das Lied von der Erde (Songs of the Earth), which looks back on the lost beauty of life. Formally located between a song cycle and a symphony, this work was, according to Mahler, “probably the most personal thing I have done so far”.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Mahler

Throughout the 60-year span of his collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim has never conducted the music of Gustav Mahler. Until now. Two late works can be heard, beginning with the expressive Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony. Painful melancholy prevails here, as it does in Das Lied von der Erde (Songs of the Earth), which looks back on the lost beauty of life. Formally located between a song cycle and a symphony, this work was, according to Mahler, “probably the most personal thing I have done so far”.

Martin Fröst conducts and plays Brahms, Fröst, Hillborg, Bartók & Beethoven