Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Yuja Wang

• Classical Music

World leaders have joined forces here: exceptional pianist Yuja Wang and the acclaimed Mahler Chamber Orchestra have been »Artistic Partners« since early 2024 and as such already had their much-celebrated Elbphilharmonie prelude – »it was the pure, unrestrained, scintillating joy of playing« wrote the Hamburger Abendblatt. For their second joint concert on the Elbe, the orchestra and pianist have chosen a light-hearted programme, which celebrates the merging of classical music and jazz at the start of the 20th century with again two performances by Yuja Wang.
Alexander Tsfasman can rightly be described as »Russia’s George Gershwin«. Very much as in Gershwin’s famous Rhapsody in Blue, in Tsfasman’s Jazz Suite laid-back swinging rhythms and typical jazz harmonies encounter the breakneck virtuosity of the solo piano – and a good dash of romantic melodiousness in the style of Rachmaninov.

Maurice Ravel was also fascinated by jazz, which he had experienced at a concert tour in the USA. Yuja Wang is also on the piano here for Ravel’s piano concerto, which sprinkles jazz harmonies into wonderfully dreamy French impressionism.

The two orchestral pieces always let the contemporary shine through, but are actually based on old musical forms: in his »Tombeau de Couperin«, Ravel gives a nod to baroque dances and styles for a suite and Stravinsky considered concerti grossi such as J.S. Bach wrote when composing his orchestral concerto. The instruments emerge in groups or even individually as a solo – the speciality of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, which sees itself as a unique collective characterised by chamber music.

PERFORMERS

Mahler Chamber Orchestra chamber orchestra

Yuja Wang piano and director

PROGRAM

Igor Strawinsky
Concerto in E-flat major »Dumbarton Oaks«

Maurice Ravel
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G major

- Interval -

Maurice Ravel
Le tombeau de Couperin (orchestral version)

Alexander Tsfasman
Jazz Suite for Piano and Orchestra