NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Krzysztof Urbański

Mozart as an opener, Tchaikovsky to finish up – and that’s no coincidence: »Maybe I love Mozart so much,« the great Russian composer once explained, »because his healthy joie de vivre brought solace and calm to me as a child rendered confused and morally sick by his time.« When he was working on his Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky must have been particularly in need of a good dose of Mozartian joy: his »Fate« Symphony gives deep insight into the torn soul of the composer, the 125th anniversary of whose death falls in November 2018. The music reveals in no uncertain terms the emotional pain of a man who was at loggerheads with the society of his time. A description also apt for Witold Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto, which Nicolas Altstaedt presents as part of his residency with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.