Alban Berg was an Austrian composer, prominent in the early 20th century, known for his integration of Romantic lyricism with twelve-tone technique. As a member of the Second Viennese School, his works, such as the opera "Wozzeck," reflect deep emotional expression and complex harmonic innovation. Berg significantly influenced modern classical music.
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These concerts with works by Alban Berg became visible lately at Concert Pulse.
One of the greatest sopranos of our time, Dorothea Röschmann, prioritizes the patient development of her vocal range over the spotlight. Mentored by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, she debuted as Susanna in "Figaro" in 1995. Her singing, described as wise and resonant, makes her recitals moments of profound human expression.
Concerts in season 2024/25 or later where works by Alban Berg is performed
Poetry unlocks the imagination, as Ryan Wigglesworth and soprano Sophie Bevan plunge into the wild, wondrous sonic universe of Claude Debussy and Alban Berg.
Camilla Nylund’s dramatic soprano has all it takes for the grand operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. But the Finn, who was recently hailed at the Elbphilharmonie for her »American Songbook« project, can also sing a couple of smaller numbers. This is particularly exciting when, with Helmut Deutsch, one of the most sought-after accompanists of all is at the piano. Alban Berg’s »Sieben frühe Lieder« (Seven Early Songs) are real gems and sound romantic in their own particular way – and tremendously sensitive. You can hear a lot of Gustav Mahler here! Especially as a composition pupil of Arnold Schönberg, the very young composer also makes forays to the limits of tonality here, however. Once older, he stubbornly held back many of his songs, but chose to release these seven. Obviously, he was particularly fond of them. With their warm, scintillating tenderness, which intensifies to a frenzy, they open up completely new horizons. There is perhaps no help for anyone who does not get goosebumps when the roses burst open in Theodor Storm’s »Nachtigall« (Nightingale)…
Sound sorceress Simone Young will be conducting the BRSO for the third time in a program that she herself has chosen. It includes Anton Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, in which Webern condenses the atonal language established by Schönberg into a miniature form (the fourth movement consists of only six measures). This masterful aphorism forms an antipode to the grotesque atmosphere of Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, which the 29-year-old composer wrote as an apprentice piece for the 40th birthday of his teacher, Arnold Schönberg: it arises out of distorted sound masses that gradually coalesce into music. Zemlinsky’s magnificent Lyric Symphony completes the program: eclectic, sophisticated, and one of his most important compositions, in which soloists Maria Bengtsson and Michael Volle will add their own personal touches.
Sound sorceress Simone Young will be conducting the BRSO for the third time in a program that she herself has chosen. It includes Anton Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, in which Webern condenses the atonal language established by Schönberg into a miniature form (the fourth movement consists of only six measures). This masterful aphorism forms an antipode to the grotesque atmosphere of Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, which the 29-year-old composer wrote as an apprentice piece for the 40th birthday of his teacher, Arnold Schönberg: it arises out of distorted sound masses that gradually coalesce into music. Zemlinsky’s magnificent Lyric Symphony completes the program: eclectic, sophisticated, and one of his most important compositions, in which soloists Maria Bengtsson and Michael Volle will add their own personal touches.
For four days, the Recital Hall is dedicated to Mahler's most beautiful songs. A special recital is dedicated to his wife Alma, combining pieces by her with those by friends. Perhaps today's most important Lieder accompanist, pianist Julius Drake, flanks his favourite vocalists during all these concerts. Today you will hear French soprano Axelle Fanyo, a 'true storyteller' according to Forum Opéra. She shares the stage with one of the greatest Dutch talents, baritone Raoul Steffani.Austrian Alma Maria Schindler was introduced to her future husband, Gustav Mahler, by her composition teacher Zemlinsky. Under Mahler's name, she would become known - but never primarily as a composer. Mahler did not want his wife to write any more music, and Alma herself also had doubts about her work. Although most of it has been lost, her late-romantic, often melancholic songs are still widely performed. Here today in the Recital Hall, they alternate with pieces by friends and acquaintances. Axelle Fanyo and Raoul Steffani perform songs by Ernst Krenek, Mahler's son-in-law. You will also hear works by Berg, Korngold and Stravinsky.
As part of the Hamburg International Music Festival, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra devotes itself to an epoch-making opera under the direction of its principal conductor Alan Gilbert: Alban Berg’s »Wozzeck«. With its sensitive and completely honest portrait of a society undermined by militarism and the abysses into which it thrusts people, the opera became one of the greatest achievements of the Weimar Republic – an achievement which continues unabated to this day. In the band of opera stars, who embody the characters in this harrowing drama, one stands out in particular: Matthias Goerne in the title role of a young soldier on the verge of insanity. Started immediately before the outbreak of the First World War, Alban Berg only found the necessary peace to complete his first opera after his military service in the Austrian army. Against the backdrop of the war years, Berg felt all the closer to his protagonist and the opera ultimately became a sounding memorial against militarism and its social impacts. A whole series of productions in opera houses in the German-speaking region soon followed the potentially scandalous Berlin premiere in 1925 – until the piece was banned by the Nazi regime as »degenerate art«. However, this could not stop the global success of this opera.
As part of the Hamburg International Music Festival, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra devotes itself to an epoch-making opera under the direction of its principal conductor Alan Gilbert: Alban Berg’s »Wozzeck«. With its sensitive and completely honest portrait of a society undermined by militarism and the abysses into which it thrusts people, the opera became one of the greatest achievements of the Weimar Republic – an achievement which continues unabated to this day. In the band of opera stars, who embody the characters in this harrowing drama, one stands out in particular: Matthias Goerne in the title role of a young soldier on the verge of insanity. Started immediately before the outbreak of the First World War, Alban Berg only found the necessary peace to complete his first opera after his military service in the Austrian army. Against the backdrop of the war years, Berg felt all the closer to his protagonist and the opera ultimately became a sounding memorial against militarism and its social impacts. A whole series of productions in opera houses in the German-speaking region soon followed the potentially scandalous Berlin premiere in 1925 – until the piece was banned by the Nazi regime as »degenerate art«. However, this could not stop the global success of this opera.
One of the greatest sopranos of our time, Dorothea Röschmann, prioritizes the patient development of her vocal range over the spotlight. Mentored by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, she debuted as Susanna in "Figaro" in 1995. Her singing, described as wise and resonant, makes her recitals moments of profound human expression.
Over the course of two seasons, several acclaimed ensembles have performed Jörg Widmann’s String Quartets Nos. 6–10 at the Pierre Boulez Saal. Titled “Studies on Beethoven,” these five works offer a contemporary creative response to the works of one of the greatest composers of all time. The concert cycle concludes with the young Leonkoro Quartet perform ing Widmann’s Ninth String Quartet, which was written in 2022 as the last of the group
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