Antonio Pappano - Schumann Hommage at La Monnaie

This concert draws on a single decade: the 1840s. Verdi’s overture to Louise Miller is immersed in the grim atmosphere of Friedrich Schiller’s Intrigue and Love, on which the opera is based. Verdi was always seeking new directions, despite the fact that his former work was still so successful. Nor did Schumann adhere to existing structures. His only real piano concerto began as a Fantasie and he needed encouragement from Clara Schumann to turn it into a traditional concerto. Shortly after this he started work on his Symphony No. 2, but due to depression and poor health it was only with difficulty that he managed to complete it. Both his study of Bach’s fugues and the Beethovenian victory over fate and pessimism are entwined in this masterpiece. Antonio Pappano returns to La Monnaie where he was music director from 1992 to 2002, with his orchestra.