Concertgebouworkest en Seong-Jin Cho: Tsjaikovski's Pianoconcert nr. 1

Seong-Jin Cho & Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1

Conductor Joana Mallwitz and pianist Seong-Jin Cho form a dream combination for Tchaikovsky's intensely romantic First Piano Concerto , a thoroughly Slavic work with grand gestures and melodies like deep plow marks. It contains quotations from Ukrainian folk music and – surprisingly enough – a snippet of a French cabaret song. Overwhelming, captivating, and extremely virtuosic.

Richard Strauss' Rosenkavalier

Hindemith's Symphony 'Mathis der Maler' from 1934 is downright fascinating; it is a preliminary study for an opera of the same name about a painter who refuses to let his artistic freedom be curtailed by those in power. Naturally, such a subject was topical during the rise of Nazism, and it remains so today. Hindemith's sound world is incomparable: neoclassical with sharp edges. You can also always hear his background as a café and street musician reflected in his melodies. Richard Strauss's ' Der Rosenkavalier' is a tribute to old Vienna. And that means: waltzes and other dance music, sparklingly orchestrated.