Sibelius' Second Symphony

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's arrival at the National Forum of Music will feature works by Richard Wagner, Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius. It will be led by an outstanding conductor and the current Music Director of the ensemble - Vasily Petrenko. The soloist will be Simon Trpčeski, an exceptional Macedonian pianist.

Richard Wagner made history of music as a great opera reformer and creator of epochal works in this musical genre. The rest of his compositions remain on the margins of the artist's oeuvre. This is also the case with Faust's atmospheric concert overture. Initially, the composer planned to write a symphony based on threads taken from Johann Wolfgang Goethe's drama, but later he abandoned this idea and combined his musical ideas into an overture, which was given its final shape in 1855. This work is dark, full of drama, but it ends in a solemn and serene manner.

The next piece in the concert program, Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto, is also an early work. The Norwegian composer wrote this composition in 1868, when he was only twenty-four years old. You can hear here both the romantic pathos, the influences of the works of Robert Schumann, whom he admires, and the echoes of Norwegian folk music. This vigorous virtuoso work quickly gained immense popularity and is still one of the most frequently performed compositions by Grieg. It gives the pianist both the opportunity to present a great technique and the opportunity to build a very specific, cool and raw mood, so often associated with music created by composers from the northern part of Europe.

The concert will end with a performance of the monumental Symphony No.2 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The work was created in the years 1901–1902, and the artist began working on it during his winter stay in the Italian Rapallo. The premiere took place in Helsinki in March 1902 under the baton of the composer. Critics received the composition with admiration, which confirmed Sibelius's position as one of the leading symphonists of the turn of the century. The composer described the Second as "a soul's confession." It is music full of drama and pathos, but it also has episodes that sound raw and cold. The conflicts and hesitations presented in the first three parts lead to a brilliant, thrilling apotheosis.