Classical concerts featuring

Emanuel Ax

Magical

1–2–3, 1–2–3, round and round in circles, usually clockwise but not necessarily: experts, and the Viennese, are capable of going counter-clockwise, too – the waltz is more than just a dance. It embodies euphoria, elegance, and pure energy. Plus, its momentum makes for a great flirting method. Spinning around in triple time gets people closer together, and they can test for future compatibility: The less they step on each other’s feet, the better the prospects. In 1911, Maurice Ravel composed a cycle of »noble and sentimental« waltzes for piano, paying homage to Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, and Robert Schumann. The pieces are witty, creative, and full of surprise effects. Still, the premiere ended in disaster, entailing a shower of mockery and incomprehension. Yet Ravel saw no reason to give up: The following year, he wrote a version for orchestra, serving the ballet music genre. This time, things went a bit better, maybe because the music now had an accessible (and quite perfumed) plot, illustrating the story of a young Parisian woman who is wooed by different men. Where? On the shining dance floor, of course, under sparkling chandeliers. Reverie, passion, play, and insanity: The magic of love is what carries us through life, and famously, it is not always a bed of roses. Hector Berlioz knew what he was talking about: His (at the time) unrequited passion for a capricious Irish actress inspired him to write his Symphonie fantastique. Yet this is no tale of dalliance and seduction. Instead it tells of what might follow if things go south: Agony, jealousy, fury, frenzy, in all shapes and forms, and a wide range of nightmares. The dramatic love story centres around an elegant waltz: At a glamorous ball, the lovestruck protagonist meets the prim object of all his pain. But sadly, the triple time fails to do its magic and his beloved doesn’t even take notice of her admirer – she jokes around with others and eventually sets off a psycho-catastrophe. Swedish composer Anders Hillborg dedicated his second piano concerto to the phenomenal American pianist Emanuel Ax. This piece, too, is a dance, a virtuosic sprint across the keys, on the brink of being technically unplayable, and introducing us to unheard-of realms of sound. Sakari Oramo, the Finnish star conductor, returns to the Gürzenich Orchestra.

Magical

1–2–3, 1–2–3, round and round in circles, usually clockwise but not necessarily: experts, and the Viennese, are capable of going counter-clockwise, too – the waltz is more than just a dance. It embodies euphoria, elegance, and pure energy. Plus, its momentum makes for a great flirting method. Spinning around in triple time gets people closer together, and they can test for future compatibility: The less they step on each other’s feet, the better the prospects. In 1911, Maurice Ravel composed a cycle of »noble and sentimental« waltzes for piano, paying homage to Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, and Robert Schumann. The pieces are witty, creative, and full of surprise effects. Still, the premiere ended in disaster, entailing a shower of mockery and incomprehension. Yet Ravel saw no reason to give up: The following year, he wrote a version for orchestra, serving the ballet music genre. This time, things went a bit better, maybe because the music now had an accessible (and quite perfumed) plot, illustrating the story of a young Parisian woman who is wooed by different men. Where? On the shining dance floor, of course, under sparkling chandeliers. Reverie, passion, play, and insanity: The magic of love is what carries us through life, and famously, it is not always a bed of roses. Hector Berlioz knew what he was talking about: His (at the time) unrequited passion for a capricious Irish actress inspired him to write his Symphonie fantastique. Yet this is no tale of dalliance and seduction. Instead it tells of what might follow if things go south: Agony, jealousy, fury, frenzy, in all shapes and forms, and a wide range of nightmares. The dramatic love story centres around an elegant waltz: At a glamorous ball, the lovestruck protagonist meets the prim object of all his pain. But sadly, the triple time fails to do its magic and his beloved doesn’t even take notice of her admirer – she jokes around with others and eventually sets off a psycho-catastrophe. Swedish composer Anders Hillborg dedicated his second piano concerto to the phenomenal American pianist Emanuel Ax. This piece, too, is a dance, a virtuosic sprint across the keys, on the brink of being technically unplayable, and introducing us to unheard-of realms of sound. Sakari Oramo, the Finnish star conductor, returns to the Gürzenich Orchestra.

Klaus Mäkelä Emanuel Ax Jean Sibelius Anders Hillborg

“…vivacious, funny, heroic, eloquent, plain-spoken, thoughtful and wholly irresistible…This is a work in which constructive ingenuity and the pleasure principle walk arm in arm…” one reviewer wrote after the premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in the fall of 2023.Hillborg wrote the concerto for the pianist legend Emanuel “Manny” Ax, who is also tonight’s soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic. Hillborg writes about the subtitle The MAX Concert: “It suggests – in powerful ALL CAPS – the exuberance and genius of the outstanding pianist.”In the last few decades, Anders Hillborg (b. 1954) has become one of the most versatile and most-performed composers. He has written music for film and television and collaborated with pop artists like Eva Dahlgren. His orchestral pieces have a film score-like visual feel.Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) often found inspiration in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, and his music has almost become synonymous with Finnish nature and mythology. In the 1890s, he wrote four symphonic poems about Lemminkäinen, one of the most famous heroes in Kalevala. Lemminkäinen is a fearless adventurer and skirt-chaser, a sort of Finnish Don Juan. Lemminkäinen does not form a coherent narrative but independent episodes. Sibelius is more concerned with recreating the mood and atmosphere than telling a story.The second of the four symphonic poems in Lemminkäinen is the most famous and often performed as an independent work: Swan of Tuonela, in which Lemminkäinen meets the enigmatic swan guarding the realm of the dead. The swan is portrayed through a famous solo for English horn.

Orchestre de Paris / Nathalie Stutzmann

After the poetry and insight brought by Emanuel Ax to Beethoven's admirable Concerto No.4, Nathalie Stutzmann takes us into the enchanted depths of Wagner's Ring, a “total art work" from which pure orchestral gems emerge.

Orchestre de Paris / Nathalie Stutzmann

After the poetry and insight brought by Emanuel Ax to Beethoven's admirable Concerto No.4, Nathalie Stutzmann takes us into the enchanted depths of Wagner's Ring, a “total art work" from which pure orchestral gems emerge.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Emanuel Ax / Alan Gilbert

Since Alan Gilbert has been chief conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the American grand seigneur of the keyboard Emanuel Ax has returned to Hamburg with regularity. Together, the two take on one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most famous piano concertos: the one in D minor, K. 466. Its dark key and correspondingly dramatic gesture alone make it stand out from the composer’s piano concertos, which are usually in major keys – this is the Mozart of »Don Giovanni« and the Requiem! But the central island of tranquillity of the »Romance« with its catchy melody also enjoyed great popularity early on.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Emanuel Ax / Alan Gilbert

Since Alan Gilbert has been chief conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the American grand seigneur of the keyboard Emanuel Ax has returned to Hamburg with regularity. Together, the two take on one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most famous piano concertos: the one in D minor, K. 466. Its dark key and correspondingly dramatic gesture alone make it stand out from the composer’s piano concertos, which are usually in major keys – this is the Mozart of »Don Giovanni« and the Requiem! But the central island of tranquillity of the »Romance« with its catchy melody also enjoyed great popularity early on.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Emanuel Ax / Alan Gilbert

Since Alan Gilbert has been chief conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the American grand seigneur of the keyboard Emanuel Ax has returned to Hamburg with regularity. Together, the two take on one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most famous piano concertos: the one in D minor, K. 466. Its dark key and correspondingly dramatic gesture alone make it stand out from the composer’s piano concertos, which are usually in major keys – this is the Mozart of »Don Giovanni« and the Requiem! But the central island of tranquillity of the »Romance« with its catchy melody also enjoyed great popularity early on.

Mozart Schostakowitsch

Mozart Schostakowitsch

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert VII

In music, light and shadow can be distributed in a special way. The two outer works are characterized by brightness and luminosity, both Anton Webern's tone poem Im Sommerwind from 1904, which has outgrown the late Romantic tradition to which the later twelve-tone composer was committed at the beginning of his career, and Antonín Dvořák's 6th Symphony from 1880, which reveals Brahms as a role model, but gains its own character with its sounds borrowed from Bohemian folklore. Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, a work with a strikingly darker timbre, is placed in between and shows the “serious Mozart” who, for all his cosmopolitanism and joy of playing, also reveals many an abyss.

Guest performance