Tchaikovsky 5 & Florian Noack plays Medtner
Ludwig van Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
Nikolai Medtner, Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 33
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
FATE TRYING TO ESCAPE
Coriolanus was a Roman patrician who tried to become consul after several military successes. When this failed, he turned against Rome. He made an alliance with a hostile people and laid siege to his own home town. At the height of the battle, Rome sent a group of women to Coriolanus to negotiate, including his own wife and his mother. In the stage overture that Beethoven wrote for Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s tragedy Coriolanus, Coriolanus’ gentlemanly nature clashes with his mother’s cantilenic pleas.
The Belgian pianist Florian Noack likes to present lesser-known works to the public, to great acclaim. In this concert he performs the First Piano Concerto by the Russian composer Nikolai Medtner, a contemporary and friend of Rachmaninoff. Like Rachmaninoff, Medtner remained true to the Western classical tradition in a turbulent era and composed virtuoso and highly romantic works. His titanic First Piano Concerto, written during the First World War, is one of Medtner’s best works. Nikolai Medtner will also record this piano concerto on CD at the end of this season with the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Antony Hermus.
Tchaikovsky wrote his Fifth Symphony in 1888, at the height of his artistic powers. A theme - a kind of ‘idée fixe’ after Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique - appears in all four movements. Many interpret this theme as fate, but “if Beethoven’s Fifth is Fate knocking at the door,” wrote a critic right after the premiere, “Tchaikovsky’s Fifth is Fate trying to get out”. The first movement begins with a sombre andante, played by the clarinets. But before this movement ends in a minor key, a childlike joy of life emerges in a lively allegro. The tragic opening bars of the second movement introduce a beautiful horn melody, which suddenly breaks through the gloomy cloud cover like a ray of sunshine. The third movement is a waltz over which fate has little control. In the fourth movement the theme reappears, this time in the major - finally culminating in a triumphant march.
Antony Hermus, dirigent
Florian Noack, piano
© Photo by Danilo Floreani
Antony Hermus
Antony Hermus was recently appointed Chief Conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra, starting an initial four-year term in September 2022 with a Designate year.
Florian Noack
Imagine a map of the world, turned upside down. When such a world is your point of reference, the terms ‘obscure’ and ‘well-known’ do not necessarily apply.
