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Romantic splendour

Wednesday

04.02.2026

19:30 — Victoria Hall, Geneva

Series S

Great Patron

Thursday

05.02.2026

19:30 — Théâtre Équilibre, Fribourg

Tour

Programme

Daniele Gatticonductor

Sol Gabettacello

Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, 'Italian'

Camille Saint-Saëns
Concerto for cello and orchestra No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33

Intermission

Ludwig van Beethoven 
Symphony No. 4 in G flat major, Op. 6

Approximately 1h45 including a 20-minute intermission

The music

A wind of optimism blows over this evening's programme. A great traveller and a cultured man, Mendelssohn had stopped for a long time in Italy, dazzled by the light and the landscapes as well as by the works of art that he saw everywhere. His Symphony No. 4, 'Italian', describes his wonder with all the force and vivacity of his youth.

Brief and conceived in a single movement, Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 1 unleashes itself in an irresistible whirlwind, attacking the instrument's range in a constant dialogue with the orchestra. Romantic and lyrical, it ends in a brilliant A major synonymous with faith in life.

After the evocation of the hero, in the Napoleonic sense of the term, and before that of his own destiny, Beethoven grants himself a more serene break with his Symphony No. 4 in B flat major with a cheerful, if not frankly "unbuttoned" (Beethoven's word) climate which in no way excludes rhythmic and formal innovations.

OSR Live

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JONATHAN NOTT

Conductor

Yvonne Naef

mezzo-soprano

György Ligeti
Poème symphonique, pour cent métronomes

Johann Sebastian Bach
Komm süsser Tod (orchestration by Leopold Stokowski)

Gustav Mahler
Kindertotenlieder, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra

Recorded on 21 January 2021 at Victoria Hall, Geneva

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Gustav Mahler

Symphony No. 5

Jonathan Nott

conductor

Recorded on 16 February 2022 at Victoria Hall, Geneva

Highlights

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