BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO

Repertoire

DEBUSSY: Printemps
BEETHOVEN: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5, Op. 73 in E-flat major “Emperor”
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 1. 1 Op. 38 “Spring”

Artists

Kazushi Ono, conductor
Saleem Ashkar, piano

Program

The most famous ‘Spring’ is certainly Vivaldi’s, but let’s not forget the colour, the fresh air and the joy that the other ‘Springs’ exude: those of Debussy and Schumann. Nor let’s forget Beethoven’s great Emperor concerto.Spring works that prove to us that music evokes smells and scents, makes us feel the freshness of water on our fingers, fills us with light and colour and makes us vibrate from head to toe. Debussy was inspired by a Botticelli painting to write his Spring in Rome: “I wanted to express the slow genesis of things in nature; like how they develop, little by little, and how, at the end, there is a resounding burst of joy.” Schumann wrote to the conductor of an orchestra, “I would like your orchestra to express a little nostalgia for Spring; the touch of a trumpet, like a wakeup call, at the beginning; the world becoming green again, a butterfly flitting in the air; and then, everything coming to life.”