Symphoniker Hamburg / Sergey Khachatryan / Ion Marin

Having forgotten his baton for a performance of his tragic opera about Rienzi the freedom fighter, Wagner conducted the orchestra using a sawn-off whisk, or so the story goes. There is also an interesting anecdote about Beethoven’s brilliant Violin Concerto. The composer is said to have delivered the composition so late that the violinist was practically performing the premiere at sight. In revenge, the soloist inserted a fantasia into the piece – played with the violin held the wrong way around. After pieces by Wagner and Beethoven, this first VielHarmonie concert of the season comes to a close with a large portion of dolce vita in Mendelssohn’s »Italian« Symphony.