On April 25, 26 & 27, Susanna Mälkki conducts the Wiener Symphoniker in two riveting programs featuring works by Wagner, Bartók, and Strauss. The program for the concerts on April 25 & 26, feature pianist Andreas Haefliger, who brings his “rich and varied tonal coloring” to Bartók’s last fully envisioned work before the his death in 1945, the Piano Concerto No. 3. Also on the program is Wagner’s “Good Friday Spell” from Parsifal, a transcendent and radiant work that comes from the opera’s final act, and concluding with Strauss’ iconic work Also sprach Zarathustra.

Ms. Mälkki and the ensemble will reprise Strauss’ work on April 27, at 16:30 and at 18:30, with moderation by Ulla Pilz. The initial fanfare – titled Einleitung, oder Sonnenaufgang in the composer’s program notes – became well known after its use in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The tone poem is also inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical novel of the same name.