Star cellist Gautier Capuçon is a great admirer of the Saint-Säens Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor. »It’s absolutely amazing and so dramatic that you could almost call it theatrical,« he says enthusiastically. Highly acclaimed for the deep sonority of his cello-playing, Capuçon is the perfect choice to perform this French masterpiece of the Romantic era. A possible explanation for the dramatic nature of the work could be that Saint-Säens composed almost as many operas as Wagner. It is therefore highly appropriate that in this concert, we will hear works by both composers side by side. What is more, they will be performed by the venerable Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Although it has opera in its DNA, this world-class orchestra is equally capable of capturing the floating, shimmering atmosphere of Debussy’s impressionistic soundscape »La Mer« in an interpretation once described by a newspaper critic as »effortlessly excellent« and »overwhelmingly beautiful«. And why not? After all, Debussy did write some operas too.
PERFORMERS
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden orchestra
Gautier Capuçon violoncello
Daniele Gatti conductor
PROGRAM
Richard Wagner
Prelude to »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg«, WWV 96
Camille Saint-Saëns
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
- Interval -
Richard Wagner
Prelude and Good Friday Music
Claude Debussy
La mer
