Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 “Emperor”
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

Performing with
Steven Osborne piano
Czech Philharmonic

The Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov has chosen two composers who are very close to him musically for the April subscription week. Beethoven and Brahms also have something in common in their style, as can be seen from the programme combining the piano concerto of the former performed by the pianist Steven Osborne and the symphony of the latter.

Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

Performing with
Lyubov Petrova, soprano
Lucie Hilscherová, alto
Norbert Ernst, tenor
Florian Boesch, bass
Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukáš Vasilek choirmaster
Czech Philharmonic

The Czech Republic joined the European Union in early May 2004. The Czech Philharmonic is celebrating that act by performing the composition from which the EU has borrowed its anthem. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with its concluding Ode to Joy will be heard under the baton of Semyon Bychkov with soloists and the Prague Philharmonic Choir.

Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

Performing with
Lyubov Petrova, soprano
Lucie Hilscherová, alto
Norbert Ernst, tenor
Florian Boesch, bass
Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukáš Vasilek choirmaster
Czech Philharmonic

The Czech Republic joined the European Union in early May 2004. The Czech Philharmonic is celebrating that act by performing the composition from which the EU has borrowed its anthem. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with its concluding Ode to Joy will be heard under the baton of Semyon Bychkov with soloists and the Prague Philharmonic Choir.

Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

Performing with
Lyubov Petrova, soprano
Lucie Hilscherová, alto
Norbert Ernst, tenor
Florian Boesch, bass
Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukáš Vasilek choirmaster
Czech Philharmonic

The Czech Republic joined the European Union in early May 2004. The Czech Philharmonic is celebrating that act by performing the composition from which the EU has borrowed its anthem. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with its concluding Ode to Joy will be heard under the baton of Semyon Bychkov with soloists and the Prague Philharmonic Choir.

Programme
Antonín Dvorák: Carnaval Overture
Dmitri Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Serge Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

Performing with
Vilde Frang, violin
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The sensational Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang will join the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, one of the most dramatic solo concertos ever written. The composer wisely waited until Stalin was dead before releasing the work, which violates every Soviet doctrine. Fear, sorrow, hysterical mirth, and a fighting spirit: Vilde Frang captures all the nuances within Shostakovich’s rich emotional palette. Unforgettable, even before the first note is heard.

Veteran conductor Semyon Bychkov is an all-rounder with a unique flair for Russian repertoire. He pairs the tragedy of Shostakovich with the astonishing vitality of an elderly Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff was living in the United States, torn from his Russian routes, when he composed the Symphonic Dances, reflecting on his youthful loves and exorcising his demons.

Banishing demons and celebrating life are two things Antonín Dvořák accomplished in his Carnival Overture, with which Semyon Bychkov opens the concert.

Programme
Antonín Dvorák: Carnaval Overture
Dmitri Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Serge Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

Performing with
Vilde Frang, violin
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Concertgebouw Orchestra is looking forward to the return of veteran conductor Semyon Bychkov, this time with works by Dvořák, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff. And the icing on the cake: violinist Vilde Frang.

The sensational Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang will join the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, one of the most dramatic solo concertos ever written. The composer wisely waited until Stalin was dead before releasing the work, which violates every Soviet doctrine. Fear, sorrow, hysterical mirth, and a fighting spirit: Vilde Frang captures all the nuances within Shostakovich’s rich emotional palette. Unforgettable, even before the first note is heard.

Veteran conductor Semyon Bychkov is an all-rounder with a unique flair for Russian repertoire. He pairs the tragedy of Shostakovich with the astonishing vitality of an elderly Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff was living in the United States, torn from his Russian routes, when he composed the Symphonic Dances, reflecting on his youthful loves and exorcising his demons.

Banishing demons and celebrating life are two things Antonín Dvořák accomplished in his Carnival Overture, with which Semyon Bychkov opens the concert.

Programme
Antonín Dvorák: Carnaval Overture
Serge Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

Performing with
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Semyon Bychkov leads the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s final orchestral work, the astonishingly vibrant Symphonic Dances.

The Essentials series introduces you to the masterpieces you will be happy to know, performed by the world-famous Concertgebouw Orchestra and complete with a lively introduction by the incomparable Thomas Vanderveken. At Essentials we welcome a new generation of music lovers, and the concerts typically have a pleasant informal atmosphere.

Rachmaninoff was living in the United States, torn from his Russian routes, when he composed the Symphonic Dances, reflecting on his youthful loves and exorcising his demons. With this piece, the composer took his revenge on his critics. Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances are modern and classical, worldly and spiritual, nostalgic and astonishingly vibrant. Veteran conductor Semyon Bychkov is another Russian who, like Rachmaninoff, left Russian at an early age for the freedom of the west. This conductor continues to have a unique flair for Russian repertoire.

Banishing demons, celebrating life – this is precisely what Antonín Dvořák also accomplished in his Carnival Overture, with which Semyon Bychkov opens the concert.

Programme
Dmitri Shostakovich: Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in A minor op. 77 (rev. op. 99)
Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony op. 64

Performing with
Karen Gomyo violin
Gewandhaus Orchester

CONCERTANTE CLIMBING
Between the 9th and 10th symphonies there is a curious gap in the orchestral oeuvre of the fast writer Dmitri Shostakovich. While he usually let one symphony follow the other, he fell silent for eight years after the subversively undermining expectations Ninth in this field. Once again, he was caught in the crossfire of criticism and lost the teaching posts that were so important for his livelihood. However, a great orchestral work was written during this dark time: the 1st Violin Concerto. From July 1947 to March 1948, Shostakovich worked on it. Then it disappeared into the drawer.

ONLY THE ABYSS YAWNS
When Shostakovich prepared the score for performance and printing after Stalin’s death in the mid-1950s, he assigned a new opus number. Did he want to avoid associating the music with the time of its creation? The sinister tones make no secret of it. The first movement is a night piece. Broodingly, deep strings, bassoon, contrabassoon and the moonlit bass clarinet revolve around a thought. Against this dark background of sound, the solo violin stands out brightly; like twinkling stars, celesta tones light up. The fast-paced scherzo in second place was described by the premiere violinist and dedicatee David Oistrakh as a demonic dance of despair. As Passacaglia, the Bach admirer Shostakovich designed the 3rd movement. The soloist hardly has a break in this concert. It does not play a voice, but a role. She celebrates her loneliness in the endlessly long cadence.

SYMPHONIC HIGH MOUNTAINS
In the fog of the night, the Alpine Symphony by the enthusiastic mountaineer and Nietzsche reader Richard Strauss also begins and ends. Between symbolic ascent and turbulent descent in a thunderstorm, the music brings sublime summit moments of overwhelming radiance.

Programme
Dmitri Shostakovich: Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in A minor op. 77 (rev. op. 99)
Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony op. 64

Performing with
Karen Gomyo violin
Gewandhaus Orchester

CONCERTANTE CLIMBING
Between the 9th and 10th symphonies there is a curious gap in the orchestral oeuvre of the fast writer Dmitri Shostakovich. While he usually let one symphony follow the other, he fell silent for eight years after the subversively undermining expectations Ninth in this field. Once again, he was caught in the crossfire of criticism and lost the teaching posts that were so important for his livelihood. However, a great orchestral work was written during this dark time: the 1st Violin Concerto. From July 1947 to March 1948, Shostakovich worked on it. Then it disappeared into the drawer.

ONLY THE ABYSS YAWNS
When Shostakovich prepared the score for performance and printing after Stalin’s death in the mid-1950s, he assigned a new opus number. Did he want to avoid associating the music with the time of its creation? The sinister tones make no secret of it. The first movement is a night piece. Broodingly, deep strings, bassoon, contrabassoon and the moonlit bass clarinet revolve around a thought. Against this dark background of sound, the solo violin stands out brightly; like twinkling stars, celesta tones light up. The fast-paced scherzo in second place was described by the premiere violinist and dedicatee David Oistrakh as a demonic dance of despair. As Passacaglia, the Bach admirer Shostakovich designed the 3rd movement. The soloist hardly has a break in this concert. It does not play a voice, but a role. She celebrates her loneliness in the endlessly long cadence.

SYMPHONIC HIGH MOUNTAINS
In the fog of the night, the Alpine Symphony by the enthusiastic mountaineer and Nietzsche reader Richard Strauss also begins and ends. Between symbolic ascent and turbulent descent in a thunderstorm, the music brings sublime summit moments of overwhelming radiance.