Concerts with works by

Wolfgang Rihm

Philharmonic chamber music Piano quartets by Mozart and Beethoven with Kit Armstrong

“It is the best thing I have written in my life”, declared Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1784 of his piano quintet. Many of his most famous works had not yet been written, but the quintet remains a Mozartian jewel, with its melodic beauty and charming dialogues between the instruments. It is no wonder that the young Ludwig van Beethoven was inspired by Mozart’s example to write an equally enchanting quintet. Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker play both works with pianist Kit Armstrong. Contemporary counterpoints are provided in the form of wind quintets by Hans Werner Henze and Wolfgang Rihm.

TRIO ORELON

Founded in 2019, Trio Orelon has been one of the best-kept secrets of the chamber music scene for some time, but that is about to change: ever since winning the ARD Competition in 2023, the three musicians have received international acclaim and invitations to some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls. Consisting of Marco Sanna (Italy), Arnau Rovira i Bascompte (Spain), and Judith Stapf (Germany), an alumna of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, the ensemble makes its Pierre Boulez Saal debut with an ambitious program of works by Schumann, Weinberg, and Rihm.

Ensemble!

Philharmonic chamber music: Sound magic for flute and harp

Flute and harp take centre-stage for this concert – both in duet and in combination with other instruments. Emmanuel Pahud, principal flautist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and solo harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet present a programme of French music – elegant, sensuous and virtuosic – with their orchestral colleagues. Also on the programme is Rêverie française composed by Bruno Delepelaire, principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Each concert in the series this season will feature a work by our Composer in Residence Wolfgang Rihm, who died in 2024; this time, his tautly atmospheric septet En plein air.

CHRISTIANE KARG, MALCOLM MARTINEAU & HELMUT MOOSHAMMER

Mignon, Ophelia, and Mary, Queen of Scots—these three towering figures of literature and history provide the inspiration for an evening of words and music created by Christiane Karg, Malcolm Martineau, and actor Helmut Mooshammer. In addition to Goethe settings by Beethoven, Schubert, Wolf, Duparc, and Josephine Lange and Ophelia songs by Brahms, Strauss, Chausson, and Wolfgang Rihm, the program also includes Robert Schumann’s Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, the composer’s final vocal cycle written in 1852.

Pure rhythm

Alinde Quartett | Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen | Duncan Ward

Im Rahmen der ihm gewidmeten, philharmonischen »Porträt«-Reihe ist das Alinde Quartett in einer durchaus ungewöhnlichen Besetzung zu erleben. Im Jahr 2000 schrieb Wolfgang Rihm ein »Concerto« für Streichquartett und Orchester. Eingerahmt wird es von der Deutschen Kammerphilharmonie Bremen mit Werken von Bartók und Beethoven.Während der große deutsche Gegenwartskomponist Rihm für das auch »Dithyrambe« bezeichnete Konzert auf ältere Streichquartette zurückgegriffen hat, spiegeln sich in Béla Bartóks »Bildern aus Ungarn« Elan und Drive der osteuropäischen Folklore wider. In Beethovens 2. Sinfonie, die 1803 in Wien uraufgeführt wurde, präsentieren sich Orchester und Dirigent Duncan Ward schließlich von ansteckender Bewegungsenergie. Glaubt man einem zeitgenössischen Kritiker, hat Beethoven mit den letzten wilden Takten doch tatsächlich die heftig zuckenden Schwanzschläge eines durchbohrten Drachens eingefangen!

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Richard Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony”

He is a rising star among conductors: Klaus Mäkelä is just 29 years old, and already chief conductor designate of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra. With Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, he will be able to open a magnificent panorama of sound. The work takes us through a day in the mountains, across flowery meadows, through thunderstorms and storms. Wolfgang Rihm also favours lush sounds in Transitus III. “I love the intricate web of orchestral possibilities,” says our Composer in Residence, who died in 2024, “the creation of states, and of transformations.”

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Richard Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony”

He is a rising star among conductors: Klaus Mäkelä is just 29 years old, and already chief conductor designate of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra. With Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, he will be able to open a magnificent panorama of sound. The work takes us through a day in the mountains, across flowery meadows, through thunderstorms and storms. Wolfgang Rihm also favours lush sounds in Transitus III. “I love the intricate web of orchestral possibilities,” says our Composer in Residence, who died in 2024, “the creation of states, and of transformations.”

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Richard Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony”

He is a rising star among conductors: Klaus Mäkelä is just 29 years old, and already chief conductor designate of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra. With Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, he will be able to open a magnificent panorama of sound. The work takes us through a day in the mountains, across flowery meadows, through thunderstorms and storms. Wolfgang Rihm also favours lush sounds in Transitus III. “I love the intricate web of orchestral possibilities,” says our Composer in Residence, who died in 2024, “the creation of states, and of transformations.”

Stations: Stockhausen & Rihm

Karlheinz Stockhausen – and Wolfgang Rihm? Was there something? You bet. In the early summer of 1972, Rihm finished school and had a state examination in composition and music theory in his pocket. Rihm was just twenty and his goal was clear: to study composition. And only Stockhausen in Cologne was an option. He replies politely, invites him, but immediately makes his reservations clear in writing. It had to be »clear that you have no other plans for at least two years. Otherwise you’d better go somewhere else or nowhere at all. Kind regards, K. Stockhausen«.

String quartets by Schumann and Rihm

Whether in the 19th or 20th century: The string quartet is the supreme genre of chamber music, and every composer must consider it. Robert Schumann’s quartet cycle op. 41 is a stroke of genius; members of the Berliner Philharmoniker play numbers 1 and 3. Inspired by the quartets of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, Schumann created his own musical cosmos, full of poetry and instrumental song. Our late Composer in Residence Wolfgang Rihm, on the other hand, favours contrasts in his Fourth String Quartet. On the one hand, his work appears brusque, passionate and effervescent; on the other, tender, intimate and poetic.