The Swiss Chamber Orchestra Festival Strings Lucerne, which impressed the Greek public with its debut last year at the Concert Hall of Athens, responded to an invitation to collaborate in Greece for the first time with Maria João Pires, meets with the leading pianist on Saturday, February 18 at 20:30 Pires after of his recital last April in the Christ Hall, Lambrakis joins the famous ensemble in a concert exclusively with works by Ludwig van Beethoven, performing the Third Piano Concerto in C minor. Former conductor and artistic director of the orchestra, Daniel Dodds, will musically direct the Strings Lucerne Festival from the pulpit in two more works of Beethoven’s legacy: the famous orchestral introduction “Coriolanus” and the beloved “Heroic” symphony in E-flat. main.

Beethoven’s Third Symphony is considered revolutionary because it updated the “classical” symphony with compositional innovations introduced by its creator. Beethoven began working on it shortly after the premiere of the Second Symphony, completed it in 1804, and performed it for the first time at a private concert on April 7, 1805, at one of the residences of Prince Lobkowicz, who was the composer’s artistic representative. patron. The Symphony was originally called Bonaparte, but after Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804, Beethoven removed this indication from his manuscript. When the work was published in 1806, it was now titled “Heroic Symphony … Written in memory of a great man.”

Before the “Heroic”, the Third Piano Concerto was written in 1800, and premiered in April 1803 with Beethoven himself at the piano, who had previously participated in the premieres of his concertos as a soloist. In fact, they say that he performed it from memory, since he did not have time to write down the piano parts. This is one of the most representative works of his piano work, a concerto of rare beauty and unique grace, which opened up new paths for composers of the Romantic era.

The orchestral landscape of the evening is completed by the Introduction “Coriolanus”. The German composer wrote it in 1807, inspired by the tragedy of the same name by Heinrich Joseph von Kolin, which, in turn, is based on Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. Both plays refer to the almost legendary figure of the Roman general Gaius Marcus Coriolanus.