On the Tracks of the Swiss Symphony
CHF
About The Programme
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was naturally not the only artist to travel through Switzerland. Robert Schumann, for example, also followed in his footsteps. When he arrived from Furka as a 19-year-old wanderer, Schumann wrote the following in his diary on 5 September 1829: “first sight of the Gotthard road and my longings – Andermatt from afar – first Italian sounds – arrival in Andermatt – dinner – strong wine – cloudy sky – very expensive in Andermatt – walk to the Urnerloch tunnel – leaves me cold – the Devil’s Bridge and the foaming waves – too wild”. Schumann’s description of the Andermatt region might seem somewhat ambivalent and disgruntled, but that is no reason for us not to perform his overture based on Goethe’s epic poem “Hermann und Dorothea”. This overture was born out of the spirit of the revolution that took place in Germany in 1848/49; based on Goethe’s poem about a love affair at the time of the French Revolution, it was composed just two years after the German uprising reached Schumann’s then home town of Dresden. The core theme of the work is unmistakably the “Marseillaise”.
Not even Lucerne found Schumann’s complete favour on his Swiss travels. He deemed it “a friendly little Italian town” with “very dead streets” at the foot of “grumpy Pilatus”. This “Italian town” was the birthplace of Schnyder von Wartensee, one of the great Swiss composing personalities of the 19th century, who grew up in the shadow of its “grumpy” mountain. Our programme here features Schnyder’s First Symphony, which has been revived especially for this occasion by the Swiss Orchestra. The original manuscript has been liberated from its archive, transcribed into modern notation and made playable. Now nothing stands in the way of a rediscovery of this top-level music.
And Raphaela Gromes, one of Germany’s most successful contemporary musicians, will play not one, but two cello concertos. Our programme includes the popular First Concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns, which gave him his ultimate breakthrough as one of the leading French composers of the late 19th century, and at the same time helped to make the cello a widely accepted solo instrument. And our evening will be rounded off by an innovative cello concerto by Marie Jaëll, a highly successful French pianist and composer who was also a highly regarded student of Saint-Saëns.
Lineup
RAPHAELA GROMES, violoncello
SWISS ORCHESTRA
LENA-LISA WÜSTENDÖRFER, conductor
programme
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Overture in b minor to Goethe’s «Hermann und Dorothea» op. 136
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in a minor op. 33
MARIE JAËLL (1846–1925)
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
FRANZ XAVER SCHNYDER VONWARTENSEE (1786 LUZERN – 1868)
Symphony No. 1 in A major
Tonhalle
St. Gallen
How to get there
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT
About 15 minutes by foot from St.Gallen main station
Bus lines 1, 2, 7 and 8 to Theater
BY CAR
Brühltor underground car park
barrier-free access
MOBILITY DISABILITY / WHEELCHAIR
The Tonhalle can be reached via Cityparking Brühltor. Before events, the direct passage to the Tonhalle is open in the first basement. From the basement of Tonhalle, an elevator takes you to the ground floor (foyer / cash desk) and to the hall (first floor), where wheelchair spaces are available on the parquet floor. You can also access the Tonhalle via an outdoor ramp via the Concerto restaurant.
VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
For people with visual impairment or blindness, we offer a free accompanying service by appointment. Assistance dogs are very welcome and can of course be included in the presentation by appointment.
Garderobe
evening ticket office
Doors open / late entry
Discount
“… moments of sheer poetry”
Süddeutsche Zeitung
“Probably the most successful German cellist of our time”
Rondo Magazin
Highly virtuosic and full of drive, passionate and technically brilliant, versatile and charming – there are hardly any other cellists who are able to captivate their audiences the way Raphaela Gromes does. Whether as a soloist with orchestra, as a duo in chamber music or alongside a wind quartet, the young cellist always leaves everyone spellbound with both her fantastically ambitious and remarkably effortless playing. Raphaela Gromes’s album “Offenbach” was awarded the 2020 OPUS KLASSIK prize in the category “chamber music recording”. Her album “Richard Strauss – Cello Sonatas” featured another world premiere recording – of the original version of Strauss’s Sonata op. 6 – and received the “Diapason Nouveauté” award. In February 2021, her album “Klengel – Schumann: Romantic Cello Concertos” received the Diapason d’Or. Her last album, “Imagination”, released in October 2021, is now being followed by a new album entitled “Femmes”, released on the SONY label.
In the 2022/23 season, Raphaela Gromes is Artist in Residence at the Staatstheater Augsburg and makes her debuts with the Belgian National Orchestra in Brussels and the hr-Sinfonieorchester. In addition, she performs at Frauenkirche Dresden, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, with the Tonkünstler-Orchester and in Munich’s Prinzregententheater with Festival Strings Lucerne.
Raphaela Gromes plays a cello by Carlo Bergonzi provided to her from a private source. She is a cultural ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages worldwide.
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