Afternoon Concert for Valentine’s Day

Tonight’s concert opens with the Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro”, K. 492 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

This is followed by the second movement, “Air”, from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, probably composed between 1717 and 1723. In this movement, the trumpets, oboes and timpani remain silent, while the strings and basso continuo unfold a calm, song-like melody of exceptional clarity and expressiveness.

The programme then continues with Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and “Für Elise” in arrangements for piano and orchestra, performed by Georgii Cherkin. The question of who Elise actually was has given rise to various interpretations. One widely accepted explanation is that the title may have resulted from a misreading: when the musicologist Ludwig Nohl discovered the autograph decades after Beethoven’s death in a private house in Munich, he read the name as “Elise”. According to later scholarship, however, the original name may have been “Therese”.

Next comes the Overture to “The Barber of Seville” by Gioachino Rossini, one of the most important opera composers of his time. With works such as “Il barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Cenerentola”, Rossini created enduring classics of the operatic repertoire.

Shortly before the end of the concert, Georgii Cherkin returns to the stage once again. At the piano, he performs an arrangement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Rondo alla Turca”, K. 331, for piano and orchestra.

The evening concludes with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. Its striking opening motif is one of the most famous themes in music history and has often been interpreted as “fate knocking at the door”.