Programme Guide

Over the many decades that Daniel Barenboim has worked with the Berliner Philharmoniker, he has performed countless major piano concertos – but for a long time not one by Chopin. This omission is fully rectified in this concert when as soloist he performed both of Chopin’s contributions to the genre in just one evening.

The subtle yet extravagant outpourings of beauty of his music have made Chopin into Poland’s most popular composer. A further two composers represented this evening show, however, that he is no longer the sole embodiment of Polish music. Szymanowski made his breakthrough with a concert in 1906 which included the Concert Overture op. 12 – a work of rich chromaticism and effervescence reminiscent of Strauss’s Don Juan. Just as Szymanowski became the most prominent Polish composer of the early 20th century, Lutosławski was regarded as the seminal musical figure of his native land after the Second World War. Here, the multifaceted composer is represented by his neoclassical Overture for Strings. In this concert, Asher Fisch made his début with the Berliner Philharmoniker a conductor who so far has made a name for himself primarily in the world’s opera houses, including the Vienna and Bavarian State Opera houses, the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala, Milan.