Paul Wittgenstein’s Humility – Great Symphonies

Symphony Concert

Saturday, 2 September 2023
7.30 pm, Gstaad Festival Tent

He could have put an end to his recent career and lived off his income – his father was one of the barons of the Austro-Hungarian steel industry – but Paul Wittgenstein decided that the fateful day in the Great War when his right arm was mowed down by Russian bullets on the Polish front would not be the final chapter in his life as a pianist. With exceptional humility in the face of fate, he decided that his music would henceforth be played by his left hand alone, and as the repertoire was almost non-existent, he used his wealth to solicit the great masters of his time, many of whom responded passionately. Alongside Britten, Prokofiev, Strauss, Hindemith and Korngold, Maurice Ravel is one of those who scored a hit with a Concerto in D that has now become a legend. Yuja Wang will tell us a bit of his story here, before moving on to Ravel's other concerto – the one in G for two hands –, while Tarmo Peltokoski and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France will set off on their own, after the interval, on a journey of discovery of an imaginary painting exhibition …