GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY / DANIIL TRIFONOV

In 1827, Beethoven died at the age of 56. Among his papers was a Rondo for Piano and Orchestra, whose solo part his pupil Carl Czerny completed before having it published in 1829. Written in 1795, experts maintain that this sparkling piece, was originally the finale of his exactly contemporary Concerto No. 2. A manuscript from his early youth, which can be regarded as his very first concertante work, was also rediscovered in 1890. It is a pleasure to see a soloist of Daniil Trifonov’s stature take up this Piano Concerto ‘No. 0’ conceived by a thirteen-year-old composer.
Although Vienna was home to Beethoven for almost all his adult life, he was born in Bonn, through which the Rhine flows. Of the many works that evoke this legendary Germanic river, Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Rhenish’ is one of the finest and best known. It was written with ease in a matter of weeks, during one of the few happy periods of his later life. It is autumn 1850: Schumann has just moved to Düsseldorf to direct the municipal orchestra. There he finds the Rhine again, and is enchanted by it. Indeed, a powerful lyrical impulse runs through this five-movement symphony, originally subtitled ‘Episodes from a Life on the Banks of the Rhine’. Among the high points of this Romantic masterpiece are the scherzo, which Schumann called ‘Morning on the Rhine’ (another title he later dropped), and above all the imposing brass chorale of the fourth movement, said to have been inspired by Cologne Cathedral. Magnificent.