Kirill Gerstein plays Rachmaninoff and Strauss

Alan Gilbert conducts Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony

Kirill Gerstein   Pianist 2018 Photo: Marco Borggreve
The Concertgebouworkest had a very special bond with Richard Strauss. Carl Nielsen, Richard Strauss and Serge Rachmaninoff: audibly rooted in romanticism, all three worked with the Concertgebouworkest either as a conductor or soloist.
The Concertgebouworkest had a very special bond with Richard Strauss.

Concert programme

  • Carl Nielsen

    Helios-Ouvertüre

  • Richard Strauss

    Burleske for piano and orchestra

  • Serge Rachmaninoff

    Rhapsodie on a theme of Paganini

  • -- interval --

  • Carl Nielsen

    Symphony nr. 5

Performers

About this concert


Kirill Gerstein is performing as soloist in Richard Strauss’s Burleske and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The Concertgebouworkest forged close ties early on with Strauss, who led the orchestra in his own works many times in Amsterdam. His Burleske is a miniature piano concerto. This early homage to Brahms was a great success when it was premiered.

Serge Rachmaninoff performed multiple times as pianist with the Concertgebouworkest. He made a comeback as a composer with his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, demonstrating that Russian romanticism was still very much alive and well in 1934.

Nielsen’s early overture Helios is a cheerful piece, while the poignant Fifth Symphony bears all the traces of the marital crisis in which he then found himself. Both works are still very compelling today.

Dates and tickets

About this concert


Kirill Gerstein is performing as soloist in Richard Strauss’s Burleske and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The Concertgebouworkest forged close ties early on with Strauss, who led the orchestra in his own works many times in Amsterdam. His Burleske is a miniature piano concerto. This early homage to Brahms was a great success when it was premiered.

Serge Rachmaninoff performed multiple times as pianist with the Concertgebouworkest. He made a comeback as a composer with his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, demonstrating that Russian romanticism was still very much alive and well in 1934.

Nielsen’s early overture Helios is a cheerful piece, while the poignant Fifth Symphony bears all the traces of the marital crisis in which he then found himself. Both works are still very compelling today.

A preview