Petr Popelka / Christian Schmitt

Under Petr Popelka’s baton, we present moving sonic metamorphoses of two late Romantic compositions: They are characterised by chromaticism and leitmotifs and were written at a time when the symphonic genre, following Beethoven’s benchmark works, was in danger of stalling in its development – and the »pope of critics«, Eduard Hanslick, argued that not everyone should be allowed to enter »this arena«. Solutions were necessary, which each composer had to find individually: César Franck certainly saw Beethoven as a great role model and even studied in Paris under his friend Anton Reicha. Yet he simply transferred the symphonic gesture to his favourite instrument and said: »Mon orgue? C’est un orchestre!« This is how the »Grande pièce symphonique« for solo organ came into being in 1862. At the request of Christian Schmitt, the composer Zsigmond Szathmáry created a new version, premiered in 2024: in this performance, our resident organist not only orchestrates the musical flow alone, but we form a joint ensemble with him. Richard Wagner pondered whether it still made sense to write symphonies after Beethoven – and then chose to focus on music drama, culminating in his magnum opus »Der Ring des Nibelungen« with its four monumental parts. In 1987, Lorin Maazel created a fascinating version of this work without stage sets or singers. A captivating fast-paced rendition for orchestra alone: it feels like a complex symphony in which the infectious melodies and leitmotifs of the famous cycle resound in chronological order – which Wagner described as »emotional signposts« for listeners.