Dalia Stasevska conducts Sibelius, Grieg and Debussy

“There are no personal feelings in Debussy’s music,” the pianist Sviatoslav Richter once said, “it has an even stronger effect than nature. The sight of the sea will not evoke such strong feelings in you as listening to La Mer. Debussy is the ultimate in perfection”. According to their titles, the three movements – or “sketches”, as Debussy called them – of this impressionistic work tell of a morning by the sea, the play of the waves and a dialogue between wind and sea. Claude Debussy completed his vividly colourful late work at the beginning of the 20th century in a village south of Paris – around 300 kilometres from the Atlantic coast.

By contrast, Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, which premiered in Copenhagen in 1869, is an early work: the composer achieved his international breakthrough with it at the age of just 25. Thanks to his keen sense for tonal colour, Grieg can be regarded as a precursor of Impressionism – the form of his piano concerto was also pioneering at the time: contrary to convention, the piano enters the adagio after the strings have introduced the theme with seemingly free-floating arabesques – only then does the solo instrument take up the theme and lend it a new character with powerful chords. “Keep going,” Franz Liszt encouraged the composer, who was plagued by self-doubt, “I tell you, you have what it takes!”. Making his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker is French pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, who is also active as a composer and has already written his own piano concerto.

Dalia Stasevska is currently chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2023, the Finnish conductor was named “Personality of the Year” by BBC Music Magazine. Together with the Berliner Philharmoniker, she will also present Orion by Kaija Saariaho, who passed away in 2023, and Jean Sibelius’s tone poem Pohjola’s Daughter.

Berliner Philharmoniker

Dalia Stasevska

Jean-Frédéric Neuburger