Nationaal Orkest van België . Walter Weller

The pianist Till Fellner has won over the public many times in deSingel. Naturally we were left in no doubt as to whether to invite him, especially when news broke that he was on tour with the National Orchestra. Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto marks a high point in his rich oeuvre, and is the climax in his series of five amazing concertos. The character of this concerto is festive and bright, without falling into empty rhetoric. The concerto is inserted between two of Schubert's symphonies; the Third and the Fourth. Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was just eighteen when he began work on his Third Symphony. In search of his own musical identity, he studied his illustrious predecessors Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. But finally it was Rossini's style which shaped what was later to become the 'Italian' symphony. In his Fourth Symphony he owes much to Beethoven's Fifth. This 'Tragic Symphony' is particularly colourful and expressive, especially in the blend of contrasts between the woodwind and brass instruments.