Concerts with works by

Thomas Adès

Collon & Kuusisto

»The work of a crazy man.« »A thing made by idiots.« Wild comments for Stravinsky after his ‘Rite of Spring’ premiered in Paris in 1913. People jeered and hissed in the stalls; nothing more could be heard of the music. Respectable listeners clobbered each other. The police reported that 27 people were injured at the »massacre« (Debussy) and Jean Cocteau, who was in attendance, noted that »a countess’s diadem was askew«. What was once a shocker transformed into a classic of modernism. What better recommendation could there be?

Dialogues avec Mozart

A play of mirrors featuring composers of the present engaging with those of the past: Webern pays tribute to Bach, Adès to Couperin, and Eötvös to Mozart, whose delightful ‘Haffner’ Symphony is the programme finale.

BERLIN STAATSKAPELLE STRING QUARTET

British composer Thomas Adès’s Arcadiana combines musical and non­musical influences—from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte to the paintings of Poussin and Watteau, to Greek mythology—to evoke paradisiacal scenes. In its second concert of the season, the Berlin Staatskapelle String Quartet performs the piece, written in 1994 and already considered a contemporary classic, alongside 19th­century quartets by Schubert and Beethoven.

KIRILL GERSTEIN

Many composers in history have found inspiration in the fragile and mysterious world of plants and flowers. For his solo recital, Kirill Gerstein presents a diverse selection of piano works from three centuries by com­ posers ranging from Robert Schumann to Thomas Adès. Percy Grainger’s paraphrase of Tchaikovsky’s famous “Waltz of the Flowers” provides the link to Maurice Ravel’s La Valse and the Waltzes Toward Civilization by the young Spanish composer Francisco Coll.

Vienna Philharmonic / Igor Levit / Thomas Adès

The Vienna Philharmonic, pianist Igor Levit and conductor Thomas Adès: each of these names alone promises world class artistry. What kind of concert will be the outcome when the three performers join forces? The Austrian Standard wrote of the orchestra’s last concert with Levit that »they were not only on the same wavelength, they were literally surfing on a wave of energy«. For the Hamburg International Music Festival, they have put together a programme full of (positive!) surprises that is well off the beaten track. The classical prelude is a symphony by Joseph Haydn, followed by Thomas Adès’ piano concerto, which has already been performed around 60 times since its premiere in 2019 – a remarkable amount for a contemporary work. Given the fame that the multi-talented British composer enjoys, this success is hardly surprising. A New York Times critic wrote about the premiere of the concerto: »As ever, the craft is astounding, the orchestration ceaselessly brilliant. The voice is wholly his own — dissonant, offbeat, whiplash, wry — even as it whispers to musics past. This breathless concerto comes across as zesty and accessible. But don’t be fooled. Just below the surface, the music sizzles. I can’t wait to hear it again.« Adès, whose music is full of musical echoes from baroque to jazz yet refuses to follow any dogmas, sets the tone for the second half of the concert featuring Leoš Janácek, whose musical language around a century ago was equally undogmatic. His rhapsody »Taras Bulba« sets Nikolai Gogol’s tragic tale of the same name about a father and his two sons to music. So vividly that a film inevitably unfolds in the mind’s eye of the listener. By way of a prelude, two miniatures pay tribute to Pierre Boulez as the spotlighted composer of the International Music Festival.

7th Soirée

Concert in Budapest

WDR Happy Hour - Rachmaninow

In 1995, 24-year-old Thomas Adès premiered his opera 'Powder her Face,' satirizing the extravagant life of an upper-class lady. His music blends avant-garde and ironic quotes. Rachmaninoff's 'Symphonic Dances,' a farewell piece, is a symphony reflecting moments of his rich life as a composer and virtuoso.

WDR Happy Hour - Rachmaninow

Danish String Quartet