Andris Nelsons, Hélène Grimaud and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig were at the Philharmonie in an all romantic programme.
Nelsons and his orchestra gave an outstanding performance of Mendelssohn’s Overture Meerestille und glückliche Fahrt, the quality of the sound of the orchestra – obvious form the 1st bar of the “still sea” episode – reminding me of what Carlo Maria Giulini achieved in Debussy’s La mer.
Sir Neville Marriner, one of the most remarkable conductors of the last half century, was conducting Mozart’s superb 39th Symphony (with its wonderful Andante con moto) and his Violin Concerto No. 3 – the young and talented Alina Pogostkina being the soloist, who offered Bach’s Partita No. 3 Gavotte en rondeau as an encore – and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in a matinee concert.
A couple of days later, the not less remarkable Herbert Blomstedt, the great pianist András Schiff and the Gewandhaus Leipzig played an almost all Beethoven evening: what a fabulous 7th Symphony, what an Emperor Concerto (an Adagio for the ages!), what splendid Overtures (Leonore II) and encores: another Overture, Egmont, and a sublime Schubert Impromptu, No. 3 D. 899.
A huge thank you to these 3 great masters!