An evening combining classical elegance and symphonic natural power: the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Petr Popelka combines Mozart's sparkling double concerto with Richard Strauss' monumental Alpine Symphony. With Lucas and Arthur Jussen on piano, the Great Hall will be filled with a wide musical spectrum ranging from intimate chamber music to overwhelming orchestral grandeur.
A concert unfolds in the Great Hall, bringing two very different worlds of sound into an exciting dialogue. Petr Popelka conducts the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, using his keen sense for dramatic contrasts to create a program that directly juxtaposes classical transparency and late Romantic opulence.
The concert opens with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 365. The work thrives on the lively interplay between the two solo instruments, its playful lightness, and its elegant balance between virtuosity and formal clarity. Lucas and Arthur Jussen shape this musical dialogue with a fine sense of timbre and rhythmic precision, allowing Mozart's music to appear as a sparkling conversation between equals.
Richard Strauss's An Alpine Symphony then opens up a completely different realm of experience. This large-scale symphonic poem does not paint an idyllic picture of nature, but rather takes the listener on an intense musical journey through light and darkness, silence and ecstasy, ascent and exhaustion. Strauss deploys an enormous orchestral apparatus to make the forces of nature just as audible as moments of contemplative calm.
This evening will thus be an impressive juxtaposition of two musical worlds: on the one hand, the classically formed elegance of Mozart, and on the other, the tonal extremes of late Romanticism. A concert that demonstrates the diversity of orchestral sound—from intimate dialogue to symphonic exaltation.
March 1, 2026
