Cancelled - Lise de la Salle & Beethoven / Mendelssohn 5

Fri 11.12.20 20:00

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1 « Blumine »

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Symphony No.° 5 in D major op. 107 « Reformation »

Ludwig van Beethoven, Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 4 in G major, op. 58

Forgotten works

Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 originally had five movements. After a couple of performances at which critics judged the second movement harshly, Mahler decided to scrap the andante, entitled Blumine. This movement was only rediscovered in 1966. It is a trumpet serenade inspired by the dramatic poem Der Trompeter von Säckingen by Joseph Victor von Scheffel.

Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 also languished, forgotten, in a drawer for many years. It was composed in 1830 to mark the 300th anniversary of a key moment in the Reformation: the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to the Emperor Charles V. Unfortunately, due to illness, Mendelssohn was unable to complete the score in time. The symphony was only performed in full two years after the festivities in Berlin. With its abundant references to the Lutheran faith, it was no easy matter to get the so-called Reformations-Sinfonie performed in London and in Paris. For example, the first movement includes the ‘Dresdner Amen’ (which Wagner later used as a grail motif in Parsifal), and the final movement is based on Luther’s famous hymn Ein fester Burg ist unser Gott.

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 met a similar fate: it slipped into obscurity following its 1808 premiere at the Theater an der Wien, and was only rediscovered by Mendelssohn in 1836. Friends of Beethoven claimed that the second movement was inspired by the legend of Orpheus: to dark strains, a theme of love gains strength, until it is ultimately destroyed by a wild musical eruption.

 

Kazuki Yamada, conductor

Lise de la Salle, piano