Dresdner Philharmonie

Programme Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major One does not exaggerate when calling this concert a marathon. Not only because Kirill Gerstein plays three piano concertos by Beethoven in a row, but also because he simultaneously conducts the orchestra. With the first two piano concertos up to the fourth, Gerstein spans the arc from the brilliant young star Beethoven to the visionary: while the former wrote the first piano concerto mainly to present himself as a virtuoso pianist in Vienna, his fourth is a true "concerto of the soul." It opens with the piano alone, which was a sensation at the time, but fully corresponds to Beethoven's intention to treat the piano as an independent protagonist. We continue our focus on Beethoven with this concert on the occasion of his 200th anniversary.