The song of the earth/Tugan Sokhiev

Tugan Sokhiev conducts the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra at the Auditorium Parco della Musica; the evening's program includes two masterpieces by two great composers distant in time: the Symphony n.104 "London" by Franz Joseph Haydn and Das Lied von der Erde (The song of the earth) by Gustav Mahler.

Haydn's Symphony No.104 "London", composed in 1795, is the last of the so-called "London Symphonies" and was first performed at the King's Theater in the Haymarket, London, during a concert consisting entirely of Haydn's works and conducted by Giovanni Battista Viotti with the composer at the harpsichord; the event was a great success. With the "London" symphonies, Haydn closes the repertoire of the classical symphony, but at the same time lays the foundations on which, shortly thereafter, Beethoven will move to pave the way for an innovative and subjective musical thought.

Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) is a composition for contralto, tenor and orchestra written by Mahler in 1908 based on a libretto based on Chinese poems adapted into German by the poet Hans Bethge; premiered in 1911 at the Tonhalle in Munich under the baton of Bruno Walter. Bethge used 83 poems by different authors for his collection, including Li Bai, Wang Wei and Li Tai Po: all these verses represent a true hymn to nature and for this very reason Mahler wanted to set them to music. The form of the work, despite the solid unity of its global conception, escapes a precise definition: the composer masterfully merges two different worlds into a single block, that of the Lied and that of the Symphony.

Tugan Sokhiev, studied music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Considered one among the most promising conductors of his generation, in 2005 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse and in 2008 Music Director of the same Orchestra. In 2009 he made his triumphal debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker, and recently with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rotterdam Philharmonic.

Photo credits: turismoroma official site