MENDELSSOHN SCHUMANN II

The second part of this double evening moves from Mendelssohn’s poetic world of imagination to one of Robert Schumann’s most personal works.

Mendelssohn’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is among his most imaginative creations. Fairy-like lightness, nocturnal atmosphere and sparkling orchestral colours come together in music that has lost none of its magic.

The focus then turns to Miklós Perényi. The Hungarian cellist performs Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor – a work of profound inwardness in which virtuosity is consistently placed at the service of musical expression. Between soloist and orchestra, a continuous dialogue unfolds: concentrated, intimate and free of outward display.

Together with Sir András Schiff and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the evening also becomes a meeting of long-standing musical companions. Mendelssohn and Schumann emerge as kindred spirits: poetic, free and united by the courage to take the quietest voices seriously.