Wagner, Bruch, Tchaikovsky: Malta Philharmonic Orchestra

About the Event

For the fourth concert in the MPO Concert Series, MPO resident conductor Michael Laus will be directing works from three pillars of the Romantic Era.

Wagner’s Rienzi, which became his first success by making his name and giving him a position, celebrates the exploits, trials and tribulations of the last Roman tribune, who in Wagner’s eyes, was considered to be the first bourgeois terrorist. The Overture to the opera is substantial, what one could rightly call a work of Wagnerian proportions!
Bruch’s Double Concerto originally for clarinet and viola, was written at the end of 1911. It features lush melodies and beautiful exchanges between the two instruments. The violin and viola combination adds a different texture than the original, whilst retaining its exquisite beauty.

Tchaikovsky regarded his 4th Symphony as an “imitation of the basic idea of Beethoven’s Fifth”, and indeed both are “about Fate”.“Destiny, that fateful force which impedes the impulse toward fulfilment, which jealously ensures that prosperity and peace are never complete and cloudless, which hangs overhead like a sword of Damocles. It is invincible and you will never vanquish it. All that we can do is subject ourselves and vainly lament.” – Tchaikovsky