Mahler Chamber Orchestra | Maxim Emelyanychev | Tabea Zimmermann | Mozart | Bartók | Tschaikowsky

When Béla Bartók tackled his Viola Concerto, he was already seriously ill with leukemia. Although he continued to work on it almost to the very end of his life, he was unable to complete it: at his death in September 1945, the ending remained open. However, the performance version that a colleague created afterwards came in for increasing criticism. “Artiste étoile” Tabea Zimmermann therefore took the original sketches and set up her own version to convey the beauty and diversity of Bartók’s “Swan Song”. The result is enchanting, as this concert with the splendid Mahler Chamber Orchestra will show. The man on the podium, Maxim Emelyanychev, born in 1988, is more than an insider tip. He is not only a conductor, but also a pianist, harpsichordist and cornet player, is equally at home in Early Music and Romanticism, and inspires with his fiery interpretations. This will benefit the D major Symphony by the 16-year-old Mozart as well as Tchaikovsky’s fateful Fifth. Although it ends with a jubilant finale, Tchaikovsky had not yet spoken his last word with it . . .