Hager, precision, intensity and emotion

PalmYear after year, Leopold Hager, who will turn ninety in 2025, conducts the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra, proving once again that it is still a luxury to see him in action, still displaying some of his trademarks in all their splendor, such as his precision and intensity, that when he heard the still adolescent Beethoven playing the piano, he exclaimed: "Listen to this boy. One day the world will talk about him." A few years later, four to be exact, Beethoven began his composition apprenticeship with Franz Joseph Haydn, Mozart's "father, guide, and friend," shortly before the maestro left for London again. The circle closes with another circumstance: Austria, where Haydn and Beethoven met, naturally Haydn and Mozart also met, but it is also where Leopold Hager was born and began his career.

These last three were the stars of the third concert of the Bellver Festival, with another packed house and another connection that made them even closer. Thus, from Franz Joseph Haydn, as the first piece of the evening, they performed the Symphony No. 102 in B flat major Hob. 1/102, while in the second part they offered us the Symphony No. 4, Op. 60 in B-flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven. They are not two of the most famous symphonies of either of the two great geniuses, but this is due to the comparison and not so much, I would say not at all, due to the intrinsic quality of each one. This statement was evident from the first and soft accords of the first movement that increased in exuberance and intensity, with Leopold Hager who did not spare any indication to the members of the small orchestral formation, who offered subtleties instead of volume, which was also not lacking. Delicacy in theAdaggio,and masterful Minuet, signed with a Presto. Final, which required no small amount of meticulousness in its interpretation.

Beethoven made his appearance with what is perhaps the least recognized of the nine symphonies he composed, but his mastery is not news either. In fact, for the genius from Bonn, it represented a new way of writing, increasing this unattainable development of the different elements of composition, from harmony to melodies, as if everything were surrounding itself from its origin. And once again, the Symphony responded to the clear and manifest indications of a tireless Leopold Hager, who will turn ninety in 2025.. Specifically, next October 6th.