Beethoven’s Pastoral

The public image shows Beethoven with wildly unkempt hair and a stern, determined look, his chin aggressively thrust forward. Works such as the Eroica and the Fifth Symphony, which depict the heroic struggle against adversity and fate, mirror this perfectly. But there is another Beethoven as well: the artist who wrote happy and serene music. To open the Spring Festival, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra will introduce the “Titan” in this much more cheerful aspect. The 26-year-old Japanese pianist Mao Fujita, who became a regular guest following his brilliant Festival debut in Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto in the summer of 2022, will play the Fourth Piano Concerto, a work about sensitive feelings and a beguiling lyricism that can calm even the wild Furies. Beethoven’s love of nature is evident in his Sixth Symphony, the Pastoral, which invites us on a five-movement excursion into the countryside, complete with birdsong, murmuring streams, folk dancing, and even a violent thunderstorm. But the latter soon passes, giving way to a hymn of thanks from the shepherds — perhaps the most beautiful and unforgettable melody Beethoven ever composed.

Program
18.30
Introduction to the Concert
with Susanne Stähr (KKL Luzern, Auditorium, in German)

19.30
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 Sinfonia pastorale

Intermission at c. 20.15