From classical to romantic Zhang Xian & Szs by Rossini, Mozart, Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, Σαβ 23 Σεπτ 2023, Aπό (2023/2023), αγωγός Xian Zhang, Jinji Lake Concert Hall, Suzhou, China

Led by our guest conductor ZHANG Xian, this concert takes you on a journey that spans the vastly different territories of classical music of the long nineteenth century, from classical to romantic, light to dark, absurd to brooding. Stendhal probably came up with the best description of L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI: “total organised madness”. Rossini was at the height of his inventive powers when he wrote this opera, and the audiences in Venice in 1813 went completely mad for it. Indeed, the overture offers a glimpse of the madness, hilarity, and a sense of the surreal that permeate the entire opera, with its courageous heroine, Isabella, at the centre of a maelstrom of confusion, suffused throughout with humour and unaffected tenderness. In a similarly remarkable creative spurt, Mozart completed his last three symphonies within a few months in 1788, three years before his untimely death. Symphony No. 39 may, despite the passionate outbursts in its slow movement, be the most urbane of the composer’s final trio of symphonies, and it is full of wide, flowing melodies. Finally, the new-generation pianist Tim Zhang presents an irresistible work that rounds the evening off in an explosion of passion, energy, and exuberance. A staple of heroic pianists ever since its premiere in 1901, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is sheer romantic drama — from its opening chords to its glorious melodies. You will certainly learn how this great composer-pianist’s virtuosity and creative brilliance changed the music world forever as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth this year.