Susanna Mälkki conducts Bruckner

We look forward to immersing ourselves in rich musical worlds under the baton of Susanna Mälkki – including the world of Mozart, for whom playfulness was an important part of life: he particularly loved billiards and skittles, as well as chess and trick-track – or he would sit at the card table and play tarot, »brandeln«, piquet or pharaoh. This passion can also be heard in his often playful music. Together with Bertrand Chamayou as soloist, we will perform one of his most popular works: the Piano Concerto No. 23 from 1786, which was written around the same time as his comic opera »Le nozze di Figaro« – which has left its mark in the unexpected scene changes of the finale. Also on our programme in Würzburg: a composition by Liszt, who wrote major symphonic poems. He was inspired to write his last contribution to this genre, entitled »From the Cradle to the Grave«, by a drawing by a Hungarian painter. But the piece, completed in 1882, was long dismissed as »the ravings of an old man« – completely unjustifiably, as it features enchanting sound islands in which there are repeated solo passages for members of the orchestra. Finally, we present a masterpiece with a number that is called »Lucky Seven« in casinos: the number seven is considered a lucky number because it often indicates positive results. Bruckner, who always had a penchant for number games, also experienced this: with his Seventh Symphony in 1884, he finally made his long-awaited breakthrough as a recognised composer of large orchestral works – for it is an extremely playful work with grandiose crescendos, inventive ideas and intimate moments.