Philharmonie Baden-Baden / Malin Byström / Jonas Kaufmann / Jochen rieder

Guest at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

In this concert, our honorary conductor guides us through a programme that brings to mind Goethe: »A thousand and a thousand thoughts rise and sink within me. My soul is like an everlasting firework without rest.« Beethoven could certainly have said the same thing about his hot-tempered disposition and extreme mood swings. His violin concerto was composed in 1806 – but he wrote down his many ideas for it so late that the premiere violinist had to play this rather difficult piece almost from sight. It is characterised by a spirit that is certainly reminiscent of the proverb that nowadays goes by the motto »Himmelhoch jauchzend, zu Tode betrübt« (»rejoicing to the skies, saddened to death«). A masterpiece from the history of music, for which we welcome as soloist María Dueñas, an »Andalusian violin miracle«: it is said of the young virtuoso that she elicits »a soulful and at times a fiery sound« from her instrument. Beethoven‘s groundbreaking compositions were both a curse and a blessing for the following generations – including Brahms, who confided to a friend: »You have no idea how it makes all of us feel to hear such a giant marching behind you all the time.« But on the other hand, Beethoven was also seen as his great role model. Nevertheless, it took Brahms a very long time to complete his first symphony: he spent 14 years crafting it, with interruptions from 1862 to 1876. And then, after this fierce symphonic struggle, there was finally lots of balm for his soul: Hans von Bülow was so enthusiastic about the First that he exuberantly described it as »Beethoven‘s Tenth«. The work is a stroke of genius: from the fateful conflict in the opening to the emotional triumph in the final movement – and all in all an enchanting journey of discovery with many interwoven insights.