Mozart and
Tchaikovsky 5

Opens with an iconic Wagner prelude  
 

The performance begins with the prelude to Richard Wagner’s only comic opera: The Master Singers of Nuremberg. The opera is all about the innovative singer Walther, who tries to become part of the traditional Master Singers of Nuremberg.  

Wagner wrote the prelude in 1862 and it was performed by orchestras for many years before the opera premiered in 1868. Tradition is pitted against innovation and the Master Singers theme dominates the opening.  

The music is magnificent, bright, full of tradition and modelled after the melodies of the German Master Singers from the 1500s. But a new age forces its way through the bravado sounds of the past – expressed through Walther’s love motif.  

Mozart’s hidden gem  

Christian Ihle Hadland is considered one of Norway’s leading pianists and is the soloist in this performance. Following his debut concert with no other than the Opera Orchestra in 2008, he was described as a “unique musician whose artistry should be heard on all the world’s concert stages”. This time, he is performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 on the Main Stage.  

“ Even if Mozart had only written this one work, it would have been played to smithereens, but Mozart has so many dazzling works for piano that he has outcompeted himself. The work begins boldly, almost regally, but becomes more and more intimate and Mozart introduces one brilliant theme after the other. A hidden gem!” says Ihle Hadland about the work.  

Audience favourite against all odds 

Few symphonies are performed more often or are more beloved than Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. But both critics and the composer himself were critical of the work when it was first completed. After the premiere performance in St. Petersburg, a reviewer described the symphony as a “horde of demons struggling in a torrent of brandy, the music growing drunker and drunker”. And Tchaikovsky agreed!  

But neither the first critics or the composer proved to be right. The diabolical tendencies in the score have stood the test of time, with the clarinet’s opening dark theme setting the mood for a symphony packed with drama that turbulently progresses from dark to light – from godforsaken minor to heavenly major.   

Programme 

Richard Wagner Prelude, Master Singers
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503
Pyotr Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64 

Participants

Piano: Christian Ihle Hadland
Conductor: Erik Nielsen
The Opera Orchestra