Schubert's ninth

In Matthias Pintscher’s dramatic work for soprano and orchestra, the mythical Herodia is presented as a tormented woman looking back on the joys and sorrows she has experienced. The piece premiered in Berlin in 1999 and became an essential pillar in Pintscher’s career. It was written for orchestra with a huge percussion section and a solo part that requires both flexibility and virtuosity. It is perfect for American soprano Marisol Montalvo. With her sensual and stratospherically high voice, she has been particularly commended for her endurance in demanding parts, and is a coveted soloist in Pintscher’s work especially.

Christoph Eschenbach was chief conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. from 2010–17 and regularly guest-conducts major orchestras and in opera houses worldwide. In this programme, he conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Schubert’s great Symphony in C Major.

The symphony begins with a solo for horn – an instrument which has come to symbolise the Romantic era, and which sets the tone for the rustic nature that was the source of Schubert’s strength and inspiration. Schubert himself never had the chance to hear the symphony played before an audience, and had been dead for nearly ten years when Robert Schumann discovered and celebrated the piece.