A composer’s final great works, in which an entire lifetime’s achievement shines through, may be regarded as fulfilment, a last will and testament, or simply a message. On this evening, two of the last great Romantics speak to us. Although Dvořák was commissioned to write a cello concerto when he was still young, he abandoned the project because he did not consider the cello a suitable solo instrument. Yet the successes and experiences of his years in America gave him the confidence to meet the earlier request and take up the challenge of conceiving another grand opus to follow the New World Symphony. Since then, his composition has become perhaps the most beloved cello concerto ever written. Mahler staked his entire life on writing monumental symphonies and sensed that his Ninth, his last completed symphony, represented the crowning achievement of his oeuvre, a work that consolidates his intellectual legacy in full.

Presented by: Pannon Philharmonic