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Images

Wednesday

04.03.2026

19:30 — Victoria Hall, Geneva

Series O

Great Patron

Thursday

05.03.2026

19:30 — Victoria Hall, Geneva

Series S

Sponsor

Programme

Jonathan Nottconductor

Khatia Buniatishvilipiano

Claude Debussy
Images, for orchestra

Intermission

Johannes Brahms
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83

Approximately 1h50 including a 20-minute intermission

The music

It was incomprehension and failure that greeted Debussy’s Images for orchestra when they were first performed on 20 February 1910 (Iberia), 2 March of the same year (Rondes de printemps under the direction of the composer) and 26 January 1913 (Gigues). Only Maurice Ravel was “embraced to tears” while the young Ernest Ansermet had attentively followed Debussy’s rehearsals at the podium and spent an entire afternoon with the composer. Rarely given in full concert, the Images are colourful paintings of the soul at the same time as they describe a fantasized Spain, ending with an orchestral study of great refinement. Without having become popular, they are at the pinnacle of French music of the early 20th century.

Gone are the days when the Geneva press treated Concerto No. 2 in B flat major as a “great cadaver”. Brahms has long been adored by the public, who constantly ask for more.

The venues

OSR Live

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Felix Mendelssohn - Claude Debussy - Ludwig Beethoven

Mer calme et heureux voyage - The Sea - Symphony No. 6

Daniele Gatti

conductor

Recorded on 08 November 2023 at Victoria Hall, Geneva

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Wolfgang A. Mozart - Gustav Mahler

Concerto for two pianos - Symphony No. 1

Daniel Harding

conductor

Martha Argerich

piano

Maria João Pires

piano

Recorded on 16 December 2021 at Victoria Hall, Geneva

Highlights

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