Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven — Classics without conductor | Bies | Podulka | Symphony Orchestra

Performers: Anna Podulka — concertmaster/conducting orchestra

Tymoteusz Bies — piano

Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra

Program: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — overture to the opera Don Giovanni KV 527

Joseph Haydn — Symphony No. 83 in G minor Hob. I:83 “Kura”

Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15

The music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven performed without a conductor requires from the musicians exceptional attentiveness, mutual trust and the ability to conduct musical dialogue. During this concert, the Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra will return to the tradition of 18th century music-making, in which the ensemble was led by a concertmaster or soloist, and joint interpretation was born directly between the performers.

The orchestra will be conducted from the concert master's desk by Anna Podulka — concertmaster of the Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. The soloist of the evening will be Tymoteusz Bies — winner of more than thirty awards in piano and chamber competitions, performing on three continents and former artist-in-residence of the National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio. In his interpretation, Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto I in C major will sound — a work in which classical elegance meets the energy and individuality of the future creator of “Eroica” and Symphony No. 9.

The concert will open with an overture to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, a work that has fascinated with its ambiguity for more than two centuries. Already the first bars foreshadow the dramatic world of opera, full of tension, mystery and impending disaster. Mozart juxtaposes the dark sounds associated with the character of the Commander with the brilliant energy of the fast part, creating one of the most characteristic overtures in the history of opera.

It will be followed by Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 83 in G minor “The Chicken” — one of the most popular works belonging to the famous Parisian Symphonies. It owes its nickname to a characteristic motif in the first part, which associated listeners with the gnarling of a hen. Behind this humorous title, however, lies music full of elegance, contrasts and unwavering creative inventiveness of the composer, who set the direction for the development of the entire classical symphony.

The main focus of the program will be the 1st Piano Concerto in C major by Ludwig van Beethoven. Although still maintained in the aesthetics of classicism, it already clearly foreshadows the individual style of the composer. Beethoven broadens the scale of emotions, strengthens the role of the soloist and gives the music an energy that will change the history of the genre in the following years.

CONCERT INFORMANT