Éclats by Tchaikovsky, P. I., Strauss, De (2023/2023), Director musical Michael Schønwandt, Le Corum (Palais des Congrès - Opera Berlioz), Montpellier, France

Under the sensitive baton of Michael Schønwandt, the symphonic season ends in style with two great works from the classical repertoire. First of all, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, where we say to ourselves that the composer was right not to give in to the scandalized cries of pianist Nikolai Rubinstein who described this jewel of the repertoire as unplayable and worthless . In terms of curiosities, it should be noted that Tchaikovsky used several songs from Ukrainian folklore and even a French tune “Il faut s'amuse, danser et rire”. In the second part, here is A Hero's Life,culmination of a decade of great symphonic poems inspired in Strauss by literary, poetic and philosophical arguments. At 34, the Bavarian composer puts himself on stage by self-parodying, not without a good dose of humour.