SYMPHONY CONCERT
Swiss Orchestra
Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer, conductor
Magda Amara, piano
The Swiss Orchestra under the baton of Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer will open the new season of ANDERMATT MUSIC, with Magda Amara as the soloist in Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto.
—Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868):
Overture to “William Tell”
Franz Liszt (1811–1886):
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major
Richard Wagner (1813–1883):
“Träume” WWV 91b
Hans Huber (1852–1921):
Serenade No. 2, “Winter Nights”
We’re a little early, it’s true! And yet it isn’t uncommon for winter to set in by late September in the Alps – thus at the opening of the new season for ANDERMATT MUSIC. We naturally have no influence on the weather, but our music is all set and ready for the first fall of snowflakes, in the shape of Hans Huber’s Second Serenade. Huber was born in Canton Solothurn and was one of the most significant composers of German-speaking Switzerland in the early 20th century. He composed this Serenade, entitled “Winter Nights”, when late-Romanticism was in its heyday. Its individual movements bear programmatic titles such as “Pastorale”, “Träumerei” (“Dreaming”) and “Carnival”. This work opens in Christmassy mood, with a delightful, swaying “Pastorale” – a cheerful idyll that exudes a cosy warmth before leaving us in the colourful hustle and bustle of carnival time. “Dreaming” is characterised by mellifluous melodic lines that glide soulfully between the different instruments and are then transfigured and ultimately spun into a shining golden thread in the “Spinning Song”.
Franz Liszt might have been the “father” of Romantic programme music, so to speak, but he is represented on our programme by a piano concerto, not a symphonic poem. Traditionally, a concerto would present the piano and orchestra as competing “rivals” for our attention, but Liszt here makes them equal partners – as he also indicated in his original title for this work, namely a “symphonic concerto”. This work is as popular as it is virtuosic, and the piano’s role in it is not as a counterpart to the orchestra; instead, it provides different sound colours for the contrasting moods of the music, which alternates poetic, spiritual passages with moments of well-nigh diabolical excess.
Gioachino Rossini’s Overture to his opera “William Tell” is also featured here – as a reminiscence of Andermatt’s 2nd “Goethe Days” that took place on 26 and 27 August 2023 under the motto “Goethe’s Tell and other Heroes”. The final work on our programme is Richard Wagner’s “Träume” (“Dreams”), which he composed as a study for his music drama “Tristan and Isolde”, and subsequently orchestrated for violin and orchestra.
On the occasion of our season’s opening concert, ANDERMATT MUSIC is delighted to offer its audience an apéritif in the interval.
A subscription for ANDERMATT MUSIC gives you direct access to regular classical events in Switzerland’s highest-lying concert hall, and means you don’t have to miss any highlights.
ANDERMATT MUSIC stands for high-quality music events off the beaten track, and convinces through its innovative, versatile concert programming.
Do you have any questions about purchasing tickets, subscriptions, travel or staying at the Andermatt Concert Hall? Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions.
