Anima Eterna Brugge: Gade, Berwald & Beethoven

演出简介

Around one of the most famous concertos ever written for piano, played here on Viennese instruments identical to those used in Beethoven’s day, the Belgian ensemble proposes an excursion into Scandinavian music from the end of the 19th century with two composers who helped found the musical tradition of these countries.

As an orchestra conductor and teacher – he was essential in reforming the Musical Society of Copenhagen – as well as by virtue of his works, Niels Gade (1817‐1890) is the most important figure in Danish music from the 19th century. Like many others after him, he went to Leipzig, where he became the assistant to Mendelssohn at the Gewandhaus, succeeding him there shortly after the latter’s death in 1847. At this point, his career took a fundamental turn. This is the same year that saw the birth of his Third symphony op. 15, in which, for the first time, he mixed the colours and lighting so characteristic of the solid architecture and subtle balance that he learned from Mendelssohn.

Franz Berwald (1796‐1868) is perhaps the most singular personality that Swedish music has ever produced. His Third Symphony is nicknamed “the Singular” in reference to a formal originality – of which the composer was never shy – that integrates the scherzo into the slow movement. The work gives a glimpse of his genius as an orchestrator, wherein, as with Berlioz, the musical idea is inseparable from its sonic colour.