The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst

Franz Welser-Möst

Seven years after the light-hearted and ironic Symphonie classique, Prokofiev’s Second Symphony was to be a work “of steel and iron” – and its disjointed, dissonant sounds delivered an intense physical punch. This rarely performed work has been called “brutal,” “painful,” and “unloved.” However, this is certainly not Franz Welser-Möst’s view – he holds it in high esteem. This is similar to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, his “Fate Symphony,” about which Tchaikovsky himself wrote: “After every performance, I become more and more convinced that my last symphony is a failed work. It has turned out to be too colorful, too bulky, too insincere, too long, and generally unappealing. Has the beginning of the end really already arrived?” It has become one of the most popular orchestral works of all time.

Franz Welser-Möst

Seven years after the light-hearted and ironic Symphonie classique, Prokofiev’s Second Symphony was to be a work “of steel and iron” – and its disjointed, dissonant sounds delivered an intense physical punch. This rarely performed work has been called “brutal,” “painful,” and “unloved.” However, this is certainly not Franz Welser-Möst’s view – he holds it in high esteem. This is similar to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, his “Fate Symphony,” about which Tchaikovsky himself wrote: “After every performance, I become more and more convinced that my last symphony is a failed work. It has turned out to be too colorful, too bulky, too insincere, too long, and generally unappealing. Has the beginning of the end really already arrived?” It has become one of the most popular orchestral works of all time.

Franz Welser-Möst

Seven years after the light-hearted and ironic Symphonie classique, Prokofiev’s Second Symphony was to be a work “of steel and iron” – and its disjointed, dissonant sounds delivered an intense physical punch. This rarely performed work has been called “brutal,” “painful,” and “unloved.” However, this is certainly not Franz Welser-Möst’s view – he holds it in high esteem. This is similar to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, his “Fate Symphony,” about which Tchaikovsky himself wrote: “After every performance, I become more and more convinced that my last symphony is a failed work. It has turned out to be too colorful, too bulky, too insincere, too long, and generally unappealing. Has the beginning of the end really already arrived?” It has become one of the most popular orchestral works of all time.

Gewandhausorchester, Franz Welser-Möst Dirigent

Konzert & Nachklang: Nach dem Konzert ist bei uns der Abend noch nicht vorbei. Die Bar bleibt geöffnet, wenn wir Musikerinnen und Musiker des Konzerts im Foyer treffen. Mit Blick auf den Augustusplatz lassen wir den Abend gemeinsam ausklingen.

Gewandhausorchester, Franz Welser-Möst Dirigent

Musical works of Samuel Barber , Franz Schubert

Concert Welser-Möst

Concert Welser-Möst

Mahler Chamber Orchestra: Music from the New World

Antonello Manacorda and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra open our International Chamber Orchestra series with music from the “New World”. Anton Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, written in New York, clearly expresses the influences of both indigenous and African American melodies – although the work is also unmistakably Bohemian in colour. 2024 marks the 150th birthday of the brilliant Charles Ives, the first American composer to gain truly global recognition. Anna Prohaska sings selected songs by Ives, juxtaposed with songs by Gustav Mahler, his European contemporary.

Kirill Petrenko conducts Bruckner and Rihm

Anton Bruckner’s symphonies have often been described as cathedrals of sound. And they really do combine a powerful architecture of sound with soaring climaxes and visions of the transcendent. This also applies to the Fifth Symphony, which Bruckner called his “contrapuntal masterpiece” because of its ingenious compositional technique. Kirill Petrenko combines it with a work that also has a connection to sacred architecture: Wolfgang Rihm’s IN-SCHRIFT, whose dark, powerfully-sculpted sounds are inspired by St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.