Concerts with works by

Benjamin Britten

CONCERT DES MAÎTRES – Récital Hautbois-Piano

Sanderling and Hadelich

Benjamin Britten sensed that the Second World War would soon break out. He couldn't bear to stay in England, so he boarded a ship to Canada. The weight of this decision for him, as a committed pacifist, can be heard in his music. Even during the crossing, he worked on his Violin Concerto in D minor, which will be performed by Augustin Hadelich in our concert. Dmitri Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony also bears the mark of this war, albeit composed on the other side, in Stalin's Soviet Union. For Shostakovich, it was a balancing act: he did not want to write optimistic music, yet it could not be purely tragic. The result is a work that reflects these contradictions. Michael Sanderling is considered one of the leading Shostakovich experts among conductors of our time. He experienced the close friendship between his father and the composer firsthand as a child.

London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan

Albert Roussel and Maurice Ravel paint vivid portraits of the animal kingdom, Benjamin Britten conjures up a savage parade, and Joseph Haydn takes a trip to London for his final symphony.

Symphonic Concert

Mathew Halls, photo: Benjamin Ealovega The final bar of Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7 in C major has been compared by conductor Colin Davis to the closing of a coffin lid. Although the great Finn still had more than 30 years to live after it was written, it is one of his last completed works. The unusual one-movement form of the work, which was originally to be titled ‘Fantasia Sinfonica’, has become an interpretative challenge for critics and analysts. While unanimously describing the work as revolutionary, scholars have differed in the justifications for their judgement. Benjamin Britten’s dark opera Peter Grimes, which tells the story of a fisherman suspected of murdering a young journeyman, contains highly successful orchestral interludes which, in a slightly altered order and with minor alterations, were successfully published separately as Four Sea Interludes shortly after the opera’s premiere in 1945. They consist of ‘Dawn’, an illustration of a calm sea, ‘Sunday Morning’, with the sound of tolling church bells imitated by horn, the majestic nocturne ‘Moonlight’ and the deathly terrifying ‘Tempest’. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony was received less warmly than the Seventh, because, as the offended composer was to comment, ‘the Eighth is better’. Beethoven undoubtedly put more work into it than into its predecessor, as the surviving sketches testify. Performed for the first time under the baton of its increasingly hard-of-hearing composer in Vienna in 1814, it was not dedicated to anyone, perhaps due to its cool reception.

Chor-Familienkonzert

Think classical concerts are just for grandparents? Think again! Join our moderated concerts for all ages. Malte Arkona guides you through the program with wit, exploring fascinating works with the audience and artists. Discover something new with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Choirs, suitable for ages six and up. Arrive an hour early to meet the musicians, try instruments, and get creative at the Instrument Street.

Symphonic Concert

Mathew Halls, photo: Benjamin Ealovega The final bar of Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7 in C major has been compared by conductor Colin Davis to the closing of a coffin lid. Although the great Finn still had more than 30 years to live after it was written, it is one of his last completed works. The unusual one-movement form of the work, which was originally to be titled ‘Fantasia Sinfonica’, has become an interpretative challenge for critics and analysts. While unanimously describing the work as revolutionary, scholars have differed in the justifications for their judgement. Benjamin Britten’s dark opera Peter Grimes, which tells the story of a fisherman suspected of murdering a young journeyman, contains highly successful orchestral interludes which, in a slightly altered order and with minor alterations, were successfully published separately as Four Sea Interludes shortly after the opera’s premiere in 1945. They consist of ‘Dawn’, an illustration of a calm sea, ‘Sunday Morning’, with the sound of tolling church bells imitated by horn, the majestic nocturne ‘Moonlight’ and the deathly terrifying ‘Tempest’. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony was received less warmly than the Seventh, because, as the offended composer was to comment, ‘the Eighth is better’. Beethoven undoubtedly put more work into it than into its predecessor, as the surviving sketches testify. Performed for the first time under the baton of its increasingly hard-of-hearing composer in Vienna in 1814, it was not dedicated to anyone, perhaps due to its cool reception.

Danish String Quartet: Schubert's last string quartet

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Danish String Quartet: Schubert's last string quartet

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Orchestre Lamoureux – DANS LE STYLE ANCIEN

NOSPR Chamber Musicians / Hindemith / Britten / Music as light as a feather

Paul Hindemith is among the most underrated artists of the 20th century. Anyone who listens to his Kammermusik, op. 24 no. 1, a genuinely sparkling with ideas and light as a feather piece of music, will come to this conclusion. This architect of the cornerstone of historical performance and founding father of the famous Donaueschingen Contemporary Music Festival embodied the dominant ideals of the New Objectivity in German art of the 1920s, namely simplicity of means and communicativeness, in his Chamber Music series. It is a peculiar variety of neo-classicism, unjustly overshadowed by French or Russian music. The third movement in Kammermusik (op. 36 no. 3) is essentially a chamber cello concerto with explicit references to Baroque music. It is not without reason, after all, that this entire series has been compared to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Surprisingly similar in its spirit tone, although referring to the classical form and not devoid of stronger emotional accents, is the Sinfonietta of the then-only 18-year-old Benjamin Britten, already heralding his extraordinary talent. Adam SuprynowiczConcert duration: approximately 70 minutes

Speak Low. Songs about masculinity and queer utopias

The art song – a mirror of a bygone era and yet surprisingly contemporary. Johannes Worms and Nasti invite you to an evening that looks at familiar and new works from an unusual perspective.

30 Jahre Belcea Quartet

The internationally acclaimed Belcea Quartet celebrates its 30th anniversary with a trilogy of concerts featuring outstanding quartets. The second concert, "Belcea-Identity/History – 30th anniversary," includes Mozart's "Hoffmeister" String Quartet, Beethoven's Third "Rasumovsky" String Quartet, and Britten's Third String Quartet. A 15% discount is offered for tickets to all three concerts.

Britten's Canticles

Three outstanding young singers unite in a programme of love, loss, and remembrance, where Schubert and Errollyn Wallen are entwined in Britten’s five haunting canticles.

QUATUOR DIOTIMA

In honor of Kaija Saariaho, the leading Finnish composer of the 20th and 21st centuries who died in June 2023, Quatuor Diotima has chosen her Second String Quartet Terra Memoria as the centerpiece of its program. Written in 2006, the work is dedicated “to those departed” and their memory. The four musicians also perform music by Benjamin Britten and Arnold Schoenberg.

Symphoniker Hamburg / Elina Vähälä / Sylvain Cambreling

In 1829, 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn sketched the Hebrides Overture while in Scotland. Years later, it premiered in London after revisions. Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto, influenced by Alban Berg, premiered in New York in 1940 after revisions. Beethoven's Second Symphony, despite being composed during a difficult period, is surprisingly bright and unconventional, challenging traditional forms.

HEATH QUARTET

Josef Suk’s close bond with his composition teacher Antonín Dvořák was not merely artistic—he was also his older colleague’s son­-in-­law. The Heath Quartet juxtaposes Dvořák’s String Quartet Op. 51, known as the “Slavonic” due to its many allusions to Czech folk music, with Suk’s meditation on an ancient chorale for Wenceslas, the patron saint of Bohemia. Written on the eve of World War I, the composition is a plea for peace and protection as well as an expression of new­ found Czech patriotism. Works by Benjamin Britten and Joseph Haydn complete the program.

NDR Chamber Music Concert with the Elphier-Quartett and Alan Gilbert

Alan Gilbert on the viola: together with the Elphier Quartet, the trained violinist and violist performs works by Schubert, Britten, Bruch and Schulhoff in the Elbphilharmonie’s Small Hall.

Mahler Festival: Song recital Alma Mahler and friends

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.

KölnChor | Rheinischer Kammerchor Köln

Jürgen Leuke's review in the Stuttgarter Zeitung, titled "Music with a Sting," discusses Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" conducted by Helmut Rilling. Composed for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral after its destruction in WWII, the requiem incorporates poems by Wilfred Owen, serving as a poignant reminder and indictment of war's devastating impact.

CONCERT DES MAÎTRES – Récital Hautbois-Piano

Komponistenmusik

Sanderling and Hadelich

Benjamin Britten sensed that the Second World War would soon break out. He couldn't bear to stay in England, so he boarded a ship to Canada. The weight of this decision for him, as a committed pacifist, can be heard in his music. Even during the crossing, he worked on his Violin Concerto in D minor, which will be performed by Augustin Hadelich in our concert. Dmitri Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony also bears the mark of this war, albeit composed on the other side, in Stalin's Soviet Union. For Shostakovich, it was a balancing act: he did not want to write optimistic music, yet it could not be purely tragic. The result is a work that reflects these contradictions. Michael Sanderling is considered one of the leading Shostakovich experts among conductors of our time. He experienced the close friendship between his father and the composer firsthand as a child.

Oboe and the Human Voice

Sanderling and Hadelich

Benjamin Britten sensed that the Second World War would soon break out. He couldn't bear to stay in England, so he boarded a ship to Canada. The weight of this decision for him, as a committed pacifist, can be heard in his music. Even during the crossing, he worked on his Violin Concerto in D minor, which will be performed by Augustin Hadelich in our concert. Dmitri Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony also bears the mark of this war, albeit composed on the other side, in Stalin's Soviet Union. For Shostakovich, it was a balancing act: he did not want to write optimistic music, yet it could not be purely tragic. The result is a work that reflects these contradictions. Michael Sanderling is considered one of the leading Shostakovich experts among conductors of our time. He experienced the close friendship between his father and the composer firsthand as a child.

Kammerphilharmonie Hamburg / Göktuğ Çelik / Johannes Braun

This concert evening spans an arc from instrumental attractions to the musical manifestation of affection. In his »Serenata notturna«, for example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart surprises with the use of timpani in contrast to a solo string quartet and the string orchestra. A real highlight with which Mozart jokingly delighted aristocratic society during the exuberant Salzburg carnival of 1767.