Nearly a year after her outstanding performance last year, then with soloist Midori, string orchestra The Lucerne Festival is back again with a program dedicated exclusively to his music. Beethoven. This year, on February 18, in the Christ D. Lambrakis Hall, and always under the musical direction of Daniel Dods, the Swiss Ensemble performed the Introduction to the tragedy Coriolanus by Heinrich Joseph von Colin, the Heroic Symphony and the Third Piano Concerto in C Minor, Opus 37, with soloist Maria Joao Pires.

“Heroic” was superbly conducted by Dodds with the Lucerne Festival String Orchestra.

The Portuguese pianist is still a rarity in the realm of serious music. Her musicality should be taken for granted, as well as a great sense of style for the particular music she has been making for decades. But in practice, what does this mean? That, despite the intense drama and speed she apparently chose with the orchestra, Pires created enough space for the music to be heard in all its detail. Playing notes one at a time clearly, with exceptional clarity and power, highlighting the distinct (temporal) meaning of each, allowed the listener not only to focus on the beginning and end of each musical phrase, but also to use just as clearly what lies between them. . This happens infrequently due to the speed with which plays are usually staged today. At the same time, the arrangement of musical phrases always radiates softness, even in the most dramatic parts, and the lyrics speak freely of spirituality, which helps the listener to immerse themselves in the depth of Beethoven’s music. It appeared in the slow part of the Concerto, and even more so in the slow part of the “Passive” sonata of the same composer, which Pires gave outside the program.

Like a year ago, this year the impressions from the orchestra were excellent. Last year he performed Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, this year the Eroica, which made it possible to see even more the merits of the ensemble. Eternal conductor Daniel Dodds led the orchestra in a breathtaking performance. He had at his disposal a string corps with a highly cultivated, uniform sound, wonderful woodwind instruments, among which a very good oboe and an excellent flute, thanks to which the decisive role of this instrument appeared, especially in the last part of the work. The brass and especially the horns were just as good, as can be seen in the “Trio” of the third movement. Against this backdrop, the strength and pulse of the first movement was as sure as the airiness of the beginning of the “Scherzo” or the explosive nature of the last movement, while all the conditions were created for the impressive escalations and discharges of “Mourning Journey” (Part 2). After this experience, a cycle of five piano concertos with the same line-up would come in handy, and attendance seemed to be guaranteed.