concert Julian Rachlin conducts Beethoven and Tchaikovsky — With Yefim Bronfman 2024 Herbstgold Festival: Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt

The 2024 Herbstgold Festival at Esterházy Palace continues with two titanic works, featuring the formidable Yefim Bronfman alongside the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, led by longtime collaborator Julian Rachlin! Bronfman, known for his powerful technique and dynamic sensitivity, takes on the concerto that saw Beethoven separate himself from Classical tradition and assert the individuality of his voice: the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, whose two relentlessly propulsive outer movements in the home key surround a soaring and delicate Largo in E major. Later, Rachlin and the COE perform Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, which brings to mind Beethoven's Fifth in its recurrent "fate" motif. "All life," wrote Tchaikovsky, "is an unbroken alternation of hard reality with swiftly passing dreams and visions of happiness" — which makes the symphony's triumphant ending feel thrillingly hard-won and worth savoring.