NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Jan Lisiecki / Krzysztof Urbański
Strauss / Schumann
»It is a fundamental principle of mine that I only let deeds and works speak for me, and never words«. That was Richard Strauss‘ artistic credo. His virtuosic »deeds« are still regarded to this day as the ultimate in late Romantic instrumentation art – and they therefore became a challenge keenly taken up by every major symphony orchestra.
The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra opens the 2016/17 season with three programmes that focus on the »last great European sensation in music« (Romain Rolland on Strauss). Our first guest conductor, Krzysztof Urbański, kicks off proceedings with Strauss’ early symphonic poem about the legendary womaniser Don Juan.
Also on the programme is the tone poem of Nietzsche’s »Thus Spoke Zarathustra«, whose opening gained world fame, if not before, then at the latest thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s classic film »A Space Odyssey«. Between these two colossal pieces, 21-year-old Polish-Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki plays Schumann’s piano concerto – a real »soul counterpoint«, as Strauss would say.
Performers
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
Jan Lisiecki piano
conductor Krzysztof Urbański
Programme
Richard Strauss
Don Juan / Tondichtung nach Nikolaus Lenau op. 20
Robert Schumann
Konzert für Klavier und Orchester a-Moll op. 54
Richard Strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra / Tondichtung frei nach Friedrich Nietzsche op. 30