Haydn, who recognised the protagonist of a symphony in a humble feathered creature from a poultry yard, Brahms, whose Violin Concerto was transformed into a Piano Concerto, and Felix Mendelssohn, who drapes the Scottish landscape in romantic musical garb, are the guests of honour at this concert. Through their works, we encounter a reality brought vividly to life by the power of their imaginations. The Paris Symphonies, including the one famously nicknamed The Hen, were composed by Haydn for an orchestra of a size he had never had at his disposal before. Contemporary accounts record that he had the musicians’ instruments cluck like hens at the premiere. The only Violin Concerto by the pianist Brahms represented one of the greatest undertakings of his career. Now, however, we will discover the soaring imagination of Dejan Lazić, who has translated the work back into Brahms’s “mother tongue” – the piano. Mendelssohn came of age during his grand tour of Europe, an experience so formative that he immortalised the Scottish landscape in a symphony.

Presented by: Pannon Philharmonic