ConcertPulse
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Sir András Schiff
Laeiszhalle, Großer Saal (Hamburg)
»There are orchestras, good ones, great ones, and then there is the Chamber Orchestra of Europe«, said Sir András Schiff once. The pianist first got to know the orchestra in 1985. And over the course of their many concerts together, Schiff discovered a passion for conducting. From the piano, he now conducts a classical and Romantic programme in which Joseph Haydn meets his admirer Johannes Brahms. From Haydn the Viennese classicist we have the Sinfonia Concertante for oboe, bassoon, violin, violoncello and orchestra, a piece that was enthusiastically received at its London premiere in 1792. With his orchestral variations on a small (choral) theme from a Haydn divertimento, Brahms wrote his first great orchestral work in 1873, after sketches for a symphony had been incorporated into his first piano concerto in the 1850s. The work, which Sir András Schiff has repeatedly reinterpreted throughout his career, sounds correspondingly symphonic. With all these great pieces, Schiff and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe celebrate almost 40 years of musical friendship!