**The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado and accompanied by Alexei Volodin on piano**
Wagner and Mendelssohn performed by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado and accompanied by Alexei Volodin on piano in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Some programs tell a story. Such is the case with tonight’s, which connects, perhaps inadvertently given his fundamental antisemitism, Wagner to Mendelssohn. Both composers indeed used the same seven mystical chords of the Dresden Amen, sung during religious services in Saxony by both Protestants and Catholics. Mendelssohn cleverly incorporates them into the first movement of his “Reformation” Symphony, composed for the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, while Wagner uses them as a leitmotif for the Holy Grail in his final opera, _Parsifal_, starting with the magnificent Prelude.
As for Liszt, he was a close friend of both composers. His Piano Concerto No. 1 has delighted virtuosos since its premiere in 1855. Its opening martial theme immediately captivates, and the debut of the triangle in an orchestra does not go unnoticed!