NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / NDR Vokalensemble / Philip Mayers / Paavo Järvi

First, the NDR Vokalensemble dedicates itself to some of Schumann’s choral works, in which the entire sound palette of a vocal ensemble is explored - from female voices to male choir to mixed choir.As Schumann said so beautifully: »The best way to develop your own melodic sense is always to write a lot for singing, for an independent choir.« And he did! And set poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Rückert and Eduard Mörike, among others, to music. Art could hardly be more »romantic« – culminating in the famous Eichendorff setting »Mondnacht«, which Putniņš and the NDR Vokalensemble present in an arrangement for choir.

After the interval, Paavo Järvi and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester will then perform a surprisingly rarely heard work for full orchestra: Piotr Tchaikovsky’s Third Symphony – the only one in his oeuvre to be in a major key and have five instead of four movements. The comparison with Schumann is therefore particularly obvious in this work, as the Third by »the most important symphonist of the German school since Beethoven« (Tchaikovsky) is also optimistic and has a loose, five-movement sequence. Instead of the misleading nickname »Polish« – because of the polonaise in the finale – Tchaikovsky’s symphony should actually be called »Schumann’s«!