In Crescendo

Mozart, Lindenberg and Beethoven with the Rotterdam Philarmonic Orchestra

Die Entführung aus dem Serail is a German singspiel by W.A. Mozart premiered at the Viennese Burgtheater. Nowadays, it is probably the most staged one after of course the Da Ponte operas and The Magic Flute. Its Ouverture was the work chosen to open the program, this wasn't the better moment of the night as there were some moments out of tempo...

The concert continued with the world premiere of Absence, a new work by the finish composer Magnus Lindberg. After completing his studies with Rautavaara, he has been composer-in-residence of some of the most prestigious orchestras in the world such as the New York Philarmonic or more recently the London Philarmonic Orchestra. I could find some similarities with romantic composers such as Bruckner or Brahms.

Then, we heard the Jupiter symphony, the last one composed by Mozart and probably one of the most famous ones (it is very common that the last three symphonies are used to constitute a program for the concert). Led with powerful tempos by Lahav Shani, chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philarmonic, he accomplished an undoubtedly Mozartian conducting!

After an hour of intermission arrived the main course of the evening (Well, actually it was not an intermission as there are two concerts in an evening... and you can choose if you want to attend one or both concerts. Definitely a good option for people that only want to hear the concerto/the symphony). Preceded by Lindenberg's Absence, a creation that we already heard in the first concert, the time came for Beethoven's triple concerto. This was an expected moment as it was the first time that the trio composed by Renaud Capuçon, Kian Soltani, and Lahav Shani (Chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philarmonic) played together in the Netherlands. Moreover, Kian Soltani was also debuting with the orchestra.

I always think it is a joy to see friends playing together, this was the case and you could see how they were enjoying the fact of playing again together... and making live music again which is pure joy for both musicians and the audience. We forgot very quickly a messy moment in the first movement by seeing the virtuosity of the trio, energic during the entire performance. I think that this is a very difficult concert to play live as it requires big coordination between the orchestra and the soloists. In addition to this, the work of Lahav Shani, both playing the piano and conducting must be highlighted. In brief, a night to remember concluded by a sublime interpretation of the Israeli song "Jerusalem of Gold" as an encore.