Winter sky

Under the baton of Samy Rachid, the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic will perform music by Kaiji Saariaho, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss. The French conductor is currently associated with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as an assistant to Andris Nelsons. He performs with leading orchestras in Europe, Asia and North America, successfully developing an international career that he began as a cellist of the Quatuor Arod — with its members he won first prizes in prestigious ARD and Carl Nielsen competitions, among others. The soloist of the evening will be French pianist Lise de la Salle.

The concert will open Ciel d'hiver by Kaiji Saariaho, one of the most outstanding Finnish composers. The piece was created in 2013 and is a development of an earlier work — the second link of the orchestral triptych Orion. It is music with a specific, dreamlike and slightly disturbing mood, extremely colorful, saturated with subtle and subtle harmonies, perfectly conveying the coolness of the winter night. The XXV Piano Concerto in C major KV 503 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in 1786 in Vienna. The history of this work is quite paradoxical. Although its creator, who at that time enjoyed the fame of an excellent pianist, performed them many times, after his death the concert fell into oblivion and returned to the repertoire only in the 20th century. It is a striking work and full of brilliance, with a bright, serene character. In the first part, the ear can pick up a melody delusively reminiscent of a Marseillaise, and in the finale Mozart quoted a gag from his earlier opera Idomeneo. The middle link, held in pastoral F major, is based on the subtle dialogue of the piano with woodwind instruments.

After the break, music by Richard Strauss will play. Träumerei is the fourth part of the early Stimmungsbilder collection originally intended for piano. According to the title, it is a lyrical and serene composition, based on a singing melody. The symphonic poem Death and Liberation caused great controversy after its premiere in 1890. The purpose of its author was to depict the last moments of a dying man. The hero clings to death and eventually leaves for his soul to find solace in a powerful, luminous apotheosis. Admittedly, critics mocked that Strauss took the subject too literally, and music imitating heartbeat and pre-death convulsions did not deserve to be called art. However, an excellent sense of dramaturgy and colorful orchestration make this piece invariably a great success.