After his intensive exploration of Johann Sebastian Bach, star pianist Lang Lang is now devoting himself to the work of Camille Saint-Saëns, who himself was greatly influenced by the music of the Thomaskantor. The focus of the evening in Leipzig’s Gewandhaus is the 2nd Piano Concerto in G minor, which Saint-Saëns himself performed here in 1868. The premiere in Paris a few weeks earlier had not been under a good star – the Leipzig concert, however, with Camille Saint-Saëns as the soloist, was an overwhelming success. With the surprising solo cadenza at the beginning of the first movement, which seems like an homage to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Saint-Saens once again showed himself to be an extremely original composer who does not allow himself to be constrained by conventions and traditional forms. He was also an outstanding pianist, and the concerto demands almost superhuman skills from the performer.
First broadcast: March 24, 2024 at 5:40 pm on ARTE
Soloists: Lang Lang (Klavier)
Ensemble: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Conductor: Andris Nelsons
Director: Beatrix Conrad
Video Editing: Uli Peschke
Director of Photography: Manuela Wiebach
Camera Operator: Stephan Börger, Sebastian Brüning, Uta Grosskopf, Yvonne Eckert, Remo Rink, Volker Striemer
Technical Director: Andreas Schech, Christoph Stötzer
Chief Lighting Technician: René Richter
Audio Producer: Christoph Alder
Audio Engineer: Philip Krause
Production Assistant: Franziska Henkel
Executive Producer: Ute Fesquet
Producers: Bernhard von Hülsen, Maria Willer
Produced by 3B-Produktion
Commissioned by ZDF
In co-operation with ARTE
And Deutsche Grammophon
