Zahharenkova & Märkl

Description

For the third time in recent years, the orchestra will be conducted by Jun Märkl, who works closely with prestigious German and French theatres and orchestras and often conducts some of the world’s best orchestras, such as the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras in the USA, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Czech Philharmonic orchestra, etc. Since 2021, he has been the music director of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the artistic advisor of the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, and the chief guest conductor of The Hague Philharmonic. Estonian music critic Kai Taal has highlighted Jun Märkl’s remarkably good cooperation with ERSO, describing him as a very energetic, intense, and positive conductor who is ‘specific and friendly but insistent in his demands’. Märkl’s extraordinary memory and habit of conducting without a score is also remarkable.

The opening work of the concert is one of piano cycles by Claude Debussy, Petite suite, which we will hear in an orchestral arrangement by Henri Büsser this time.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 is one of the composer’s two works in minor key in this genre, with the remaining 25 being written in major key. What makes this special is the opening theme of the first movement, in which the composer has used all 12 notes of the chromatic scale, and the triple time in the first movement, which he has used only in two piano concerts. It is known that this piano concerto with its tragic undertones also earned Beethoven’s special admiration.

The soloist of the concert, Irina Zahharenkova, is one of the most outstanding and unique pianists of her generation, the winner of numerous competitions, and highly valued for her nuanced and engaging interpretations. ‘Zahharenkova’s phenomenon is difficult to explain in words: listening to and watching her, it is as if she simply sits behind the piano and the music starts to flow from under her fingers, naturally and effortlessly, capturing the listener completely’, wrote Estonian music critic Äli-Ann Klooren.

Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 82 is one of the composer’s six Paris Symphonies. These symphonies, commissioned by a Masonic organisation in Paris, are considered to be the beginning of Haydn’s mature symphonic style. The piece was known to have been nicknamed ‘Bear’ only 20 years after the composer’s death when the piano arrangement entitled ‘Danse de l’ours’ (The Dance of the Bear) was made public.

Programme

Claude Debussy
“Little Suite” (Petite Suite; arranged for orchestra by Henri Büsser)     ~13′ 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, K 491     ~30′ 

Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No 82 in C major “The Bear” (L’ours)     ~28′ 

Performers

IRINA ZAHHARENKOVA piano
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor JUN MÄRKL

ERSO TV broadcasts are created in cooperation with Estonian Public Broadcasting ...
Presenter Nele-Eva Steinfeld
Sound Engineer Teet Kehlmann
Technicians Virgo Mäe, Ats Treimaa

... & Helipilt Grupp OÜ  
Priit Perend, Tammo Sumera, Mait Visnapuu