Andsnes, Philharmonia Orchestra & Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to the Palau de la Música Catalana, this time leading the Philharmonia Orchestra, an ensemble with which he maintains a close and fruitful artistic relationship. A reference figure in contemporary orchestral conducting, the Finnish director has been at the helm of some of the world's major musical institutions and preceded Gustavo Dudamel as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His return to the Palau once again presents one of the most personal and recognized batons of recent decades. Beside him, Leif Ove Andsnes, a deep expert on the universe of Beethoven, performs the Piano Concerto No. 3. The Norwegian pianist has made the composer's music one of the pillars of his career and returns to the Palau through a work in which the classical heritage still resonates, but in which Beethoven begins to assert a voice that is increasingly personal, intense, and ambitious. A terrain especially congenial for a pianist who has dedicated a significant part of his career to exploring and rethinking Beethoven's music. Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 takes the programme to another dimension. It is one of the most singular works by the Austrian composer, monumental in its proportions, but also full of contrasts, lyricism, and a powerful sonic architecture. Salonen, Andsnes and the Philharmonia Orchestra thus converge in a programme that unites two essential moments in the history of European symphonism: from Beethoven's transformative impulse to Bruckner's great sonic horizons.