Senja Rummukainen understands how to make her instrument sing as expressively as a human voice. (Die Presse)

This extraordinary Finnish cellist, a frequent guest of leading world-class ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, makes her Philharmonic debut with Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. Inspired by his great predecessor Mozart, Tchaikovsky pays tribute to the Rococo style while unmistakably embracing Romantic sentiment. A unique and lyrical cello song leads the orchestra in an anachronistic yet captivating journey, making this piece the closest Tchaikovsky ever came to writing a cello concerto.

As a dramatic counterpoint to Variations, the second half of the program features Asrael, a rarely performed symphony by Czech composer Josef Suk. The tragic tone of this monumental work in C minor reflects the period in which it was written, marked with the composer’s personal tragedies – the loss of both his father-in-law (Dvořák) and his wife within a short time. Immersed in grief, Suk turned to composing a symphony named after the Old Testament’s Angel of Death.

Written for a Strauss-sized orchestra, Asrael is emotionally dense and deeply moving. Yet among the sincere expressions of sorrow and loss, rays of light break through in the final Maestoso – a message of hope that a better tomorrow is still possible.