Renaud Capuçon with Wolfgang Rihm rehearsing for the world première of Rihm’s Gedicht des Malers, which will premièred by Capuçon, Philippe Jordan and the Wiener Symphoniker this Friday, 9 January, at the Wiener Konzerthaus. A second performance of the orchestral work will take place on Saturday, 10 January.

The composer said that he imagined Max Beckmann portraying Eugène Ysaÿe when he composed the work (Beckmann had portrayed Max Reger one year after the composer’s death).

The soloist virtually embodies the painter’s brush as it moves across the canvas in sometimes faster and sometimes more deliberate ways.