Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra--Novemember 7, 2014

Celebrity Series of Boston

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

(Gewandhausorchester Leipzig)

Friday, November 7, 2014--Symphony Hall, Boston

Riccardo Chailly     Gewandhauskapellmeister

Nikolaj Znaider         violin solist



Felix Mendelssohn        Overture, "The Hebrides" ("Fingal's Cave"), Opus 26
                                                                    

Ludwig van Beethoven     Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 61
                                          


                                        Intermission


Felix Mendelssohn        Symphony No. 5 in D Major, Opus 107 "Reformation"

The audience was enthralled by this venerable orchestra, the oldest civic symphony orchestra in the world, founded in 1743.

The orchestra's current tour is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. November 9, 1989, is a date of profound significance in German history, when the physical division of East and West Germany came to a spectacular end.

Jeffrey Gantz review for the Boston Globe--Click here:

 

Nikolaj Znaider acknowledges the enthusiastic audience. After many curtain calls he offered an encore, the

Sarabande from J.S. Bach's Partita No. 2.

 

The audience gave a sustained standing ovation, and Chailly rewarded us with 2 encores, something the BSO never does! The encores were more Mendelssohn from his Incidental Music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and a Wedding March. 

It is interesting to note that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was among the many celebrated conductors over the centuries to lead this illustrious orchestra.

Note that the men are in white tie and tails and the ladies in long black evening gowns.