Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Manfred Honeck
Strauss / Rachmaninov / Tchaikovsky
He was an exceptional talent as a young man, and he was exceptionally self-assured, no doubt. But he was also self-critical. In 1923, Richard Strauss confessed: »In my early years, I was a trailblazer and pioneer, today I am only defending a bygone era.« With his opera »Elektra«, based on ancient Greek mythology and written in 1908, Strauss created a music drama that explores the boundaries of tonality and psychology to the maximum.
One can interpret this opera as an experiment that fuses drama and music to a theatrical symphony. This idea motivated Manfred Honeck to create an »Elektra« Rhapsody. It will be combined with Rachmaninov’s famous rhapsody based on a theme from Paganini’s last Capriccio for Violin, Op. 43 – a theme the Russian composer opposes with the medieval »Dies irae« from Christian liturgy.
The bond between artist and death – with the devil as herald of death – is the motto for this concert. It closes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5: with its prominent »fate theme« and extreme emotional contrasts.
Performers
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
George Li piano
conductor Manfred Honeck
Programme
Richard Strauss / Manfred Honeck
Elektra / Sinfonische Rhapsodie
Sergej Rachmaninow
Rhapsodie über ein Thema von Paganini für Klavier und Orchester op. 43
– Interval –
Piotr I. Tschaikowsky
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Estimated end time
22:00