Even in his early piano concertos, Ludwig van Beethoven knew how to make a bold musical statement. His C major Concerto, Op. 15, brims with original ideas. He is already thinking in symphonic terms while using it as a vehicle to showcase his own brilliance at the keyboard as a virtuoso pianist. When he allowed the work to be published in 1801 (before the earlier-composed B-flat major Concerto, Op. 19, appeared in print – hence the numbering of the C major Concerto as No. 1), he was 31 years old. Which happens to be the same age as the soloist for this evening’s Festival program: Seong-Jin Cho, the star pianist from South Korea. He made his Lucerne Festival debut last summer with Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, earning acclaim from audience and critics alike. And the second half of the concert will continue on a heavenly level. Daniel Harding, who is visiting Lucerne with his new orchestra from Rome for the first time, will conduct the Second Symphony, the most carefree of all of the Brahms symphonies. Even the composer’s close friends were amazed by how a composer known for his melancholy bent was inspired here to set blue sky and sunshine to music.
