Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert VIII

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert IV

One work for wind instruments, one for strings alone, then in the second part one for the full orchestra and two voices, as well as a journey through the musical history of the first half of the 20th century. After the First World War, Igor Stravinsky created a composition which he called Symphonies for Wind Instruments and which contains characteristic intonations such as bell sounds, chorale and folk song melodies as well as dance rhythms in a small space. Richard Strauss described his Metamorphosen as a “study for 23 solo strings”, his last orchestral work, which took shape in 1944/45 under the impact of the destruction of the Second World War, as a harrowing document of the times. At the beginning of the 1920s, Alexander Zemlinsky, biographically positioned between Strauss and Stravinsky, composed the Lyric Symphony, a series of orchestral songs based on texts by the Indian poet (and Nobel Prize winner for literature) Rabindranath Tagore, as a deliberate counterpart to Mahler's Song of the Earth, a work of great expressiveness and urgency.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert IV

One work for wind instruments, one for strings alone, then in the second part one for the full orchestra and two voices, as well as a journey through the musical history of the first half of the 20th century. After the First World War, Igor Stravinsky created a composition which he called Symphonies for Wind Instruments and which contains characteristic intonations such as bell sounds, chorale and folk song melodies as well as dance rhythms in a small space. Richard Strauss described his Metamorphosen as a “study for 23 solo strings”, his last orchestral work, which took shape in 1944/45 under the impact of the destruction of the Second World War, as a harrowing document of the times. At the beginning of the 1920s, Alexander Zemlinsky, biographically positioned between Strauss and Stravinsky, composed the Lyric Symphony, a series of orchestral songs based on texts by the Indian poet (and Nobel Prize winner for literature) Rabindranath Tagore, as a deliberate counterpart to Mahler's Song of the Earth, a work of great expressiveness and urgency.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert VIII

With his symphonic poems, Franz Liszt founded a new, pioneering genre of orchestral music around the middle of the 19th century. Over the next few years, Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Berlin will be exploring this musical cosmos, which is itself highly innovative and still seems extremely bold today. They will begin with performances of the famous Bergsinfonie, for which the literary-minded Liszt was inspired by a poem by Victor Hugo, and of Tasso, lamento e trionfo, a musical reflection on the legendary Renaissance poet who took shape through Goethe and Byron. In addition, a second cycle begins - the performance of the complete orchestral songs by Richard Strauss, which illuminates a special facet of this composer of the century, also a cross-seasonal project.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert II

Musik der Hoch- und Spätromantik, dazu ein Werk der Gegenwart. Christian Thielemann spannt in seinem ersten Konzert als neuer Generalmusikdirektor den Bogen von Mendelssohn über Schönberg bis zu dem jungen kanadischen Komponisten Samy Moussa, dessen farbenreiches Orchesterstück Elysium unter seiner Leitung 2021 in der Sagrada Familia in Barcelona zur Uraufführung gebracht worden ist. Igor Levit ist der Solist von Mendelssohns 1837 komponiertem 2. Klavierkonzert mit seinen ernsten wie lyrischen Tönen, während Schönbergs zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts nach dem Drama von Maurice Maeterlinck entstandene, opulent besetzte Tondichtung Pelleas und Melisande seine Verwurzelung in der spätromantischen Klang- und Ausdruckswelt demonstriert.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert V

Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen take a particularly prominent position among Scandinavian composers of distinction. Two of their most important works were composed in the mid-1920s, Sibelius' tone poem Tapiola, a piece about the infinity and sublimity of nature, and Nielsen's sixth and final symphony, which, although labeled “semplice” (simple), is multi-layered and thoroughly complex. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Violin Concerto is a work from his American years, premiered in 1947 but already conceived at the end of the 1930s and dedicated to Gustav Mahler's widow Alma. His experiences with film music, which he had gained in Hollywood, are also - and especially - reflected in this tangibly inspired concerto.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert VI

The collaboration between Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Berlin began in June 2022 with the performance of a Bruckner symphony (No. 7) and continued with another (No. 5) in November 2023. Now the next Bruckner symphony follows with the Sixth, a work that often stands somewhat in the shadow of its neighbors, but has its own individual qualities and a certain “individuality”. The symphony is preceded by Sebastian im Traum by Hans Werner Henze, a composition written in 2004 for large orchestra based on the poem of the same name by Georg Trakl. The music follows the text closely and attempts to visualize its meaning and mood in sound.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert VI

The collaboration between Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Berlin began in June 2022 with the performance of a Bruckner symphony (No. 7) and continued with another (No. 5) in November 2023. Now the next Bruckner symphony follows with the Sixth, a work that often stands somewhat in the shadow of its neighbors, but has its own individual qualities and a certain “individuality”. The symphony is preceded by Sebastian im Traum by Hans Werner Henze, a composition written in 2004 for large orchestra based on the poem of the same name by Georg Trakl. The music follows the text closely and attempts to visualize its meaning and mood in sound.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert VII

In music, light and shadow can be distributed in a special way. The two outer works are characterized by brightness and luminosity, both Anton Webern's tone poem Im Sommerwind from 1904, which has outgrown the late Romantic tradition to which the later twelve-tone composer was committed at the beginning of his career, and Antonín Dvořák's 6th Symphony from 1880, which reveals Brahms as a role model, but gains its own character with its sounds borrowed from Bohemian folklore. Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, a work with a strikingly darker timbre, is placed in between and shows the “serious Mozart” who, for all his cosmopolitanism and joy of playing, also reveals many an abyss.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert VII

In music, light and shadow can be distributed in a special way. The two outer works are characterized by brightness and luminosity, both Anton Webern's tone poem Im Sommerwind from 1904, which has outgrown the late Romantic tradition to which the later twelve-tone composer was committed at the beginning of his career, and Antonín Dvořák's 6th Symphony from 1880, which reveals Brahms as a role model, but gains its own character with its sounds borrowed from Bohemian folklore. Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, a work with a strikingly darker timbre, is placed in between and shows the “serious Mozart” who, for all his cosmopolitanism and joy of playing, also reveals many an abyss.

Abon­ne­ment­kon­zert III