Italienische Symphonie

Many Germans have had the privilege of getting to know Italy in the footsteps of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Felix Mendelssohn was one of them. In the 19th century, to travel through the heartland of what had once been the Roman Empire also meant entering a portal into the past. There was no other way for the educated classes to get so close to the life of the antique, the ancient world’s rebirth in the Renaissance and the splendour of the Baroque. It was here that Mendelssohn received the inspiration for his most famous and popular symphony, the «Italian», but it’s much more than just a travel guide in sound. This hit is complemented by a Mendelssohn rarity, the overture to a lively Liederspiel (a kind of play with songs) that the 20-year-old wrote for his parents’ silver wedding anniversary and performed with family-members. This wonderfully cheery and spirited programme in which Cuban conductor Cosette Justo Valdés and Italian pianist Marina Consonni introduce themselves to the Tonkunstler public is rounded off with a work by Alfredo Casella. Casella’s «Scarlattiana» is another journey into the Italian past, in this case the charmingly original transformation of around 80 themes from Domenico Scarlatti’s piano sonatas into a self-contained classicist piano concerto.