The climax of the concert of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic will be the performance of the work sometimes called the "Symphony of Fate". This evening we will listen to it in the interpretation of the excellent Latvian conductor Ainārs Rubiķis. The path to an excellent career was opened to him by victories at renowned competitions. In 2010, he won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, and a year later he received the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award. He is the only conductor to have received both of these awards.

The first work in the concert programme will be Cantus arcticus from 1972, written by Einojuhani Rautavaara, active at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries and considered a major Finnish composer. In his work, subtitled “concerto for birds and orchestra”, the artist used the sounds of avifauna he recorded during his stay in the Liminka area in northern Finland. They are accompanied by a sparing accompaniment of the orchestra, and the whole, in accordance with the intention of the composer, is to reflect the mood of a person wandering through the wilderness. At the beginning of the score, Rautavaara also placed an unusual performance tip “think of autumn and of Tchaikovsky”. Despite the use of avant-garde compositional techniques, Cantus arcticus captivates the listener with its specific, dreamlike mood and directness in expressing emotions. The work consists of three movements: Marshes, Melancholia and Migrating Swans. This will be followed by a concerto for wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, oboe and horn) and orchestra by Krzysztof Herdzin, commissioned by the LutosAir Quintet to celebrate the ensemble’s anniversary.

The evening will end with Symphony No. 5 in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven. There was some controversy about the meaning of the famous opening theme. Beethoven’s secretary, Anton Schindler, claimed that the composer pointed out to him this fragment of the score, saying “this is how fate knocks at the door”, while Beethoven’s student Carl Czerny claimed that the master was inspired by the rhythm of a bunting song heard during one of his walks. We will never know what the truth is, but two things are certain. Firstly, it is an undisputed masterpiece that took a permanent place in the orchestral repertoire. Secondly, the story of an artist struggling with destiny and winning turned out to be much more successful than the story of birdsong. It was in this context that various composers quoted this motif, and among them Johannes Brahms (Song of Destiny) or Dmitri Shostakovich (Violin Concerto No. 1). It also appears in other works by Beethoven: in a much milder form at the beginning of the Fourth Piano Concerto and in a form identical to the symphony in his Harp Quartet.