Under the baton of Samy Rachid, the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic will perform music by Kaija Saariaho, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Richard Strauss. The French conductor is currently associated with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as an assistant to Andris Nelsons. He performs with leading orchestras in Europe, Asia, and North America, successfully developing an international career that began as a cellist with Quatuor Arod – with whom he won, among others, first prizes in the prestigious ARD and Carl Nielsen competitions. The soloist will be French pianist Lise de la Salle.

The concert will open with Ciel d’hiver by Kaija Saariaho, one of Finland’s most distinguished composers. The work was composed in 2013 and is a reworking of an earlier piece – the second movement in the orchestral triptych Orion. This music has a distinctive, dreamlike, and at times unsettling atmosphere, with incredibly rich timbres, saturated with subtle and refined harmonies, perfectly capturing the chill of a winter night. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major KV 503 was composed in 1786 in Vienna. The history of this work is paradoxical. Although its composer, then enjoying a reputation as an outstanding pianist, performed it many times, after his death the concerto fell into oblivion and only reappeared in the 20th century. It is a striking and radiant work, with a bright, cheerful character. In the first movement, the ear can detect a melody strikingly reminiscent of La Marseillaise, and in the finale, Mozart quotes the gavotte from Idomeneo. The middle movement, set in the pastoral key of F major, is based on a subtle dialogue between the piano and the woodwinds. After an intermission, music by Richard Strauss will be performed.

Träumerei is the fourth part of an early collection of Stimmungsbilder, originally written for piano. As the title suggests, it is a lyrical and serene composition, based on a singing melody. The symphonic poem Tod und Verklärung sparked great controversy after its premiere in 1890. Its author aimed to depict the final moments of a dying man. The protagonist grapples with death and finally passes away, his soul finding solace in a powerful, luminous apotheosis. Critics, however, scoffed that Strauss took the subject too literally, and that music imitating the heartbeat and death throes did not deserve to be called art. Yet the exquisite dramatic sense and vivid orchestration make this work a perennial success.