Hrůša conducts Beethoven and Shostakovich

Jakub Hrůša conducts Beethoven

Under the baton of our Chief Conductor, we take our listeners on musical soul-searchings through emotional highs and lows: We combine two sonic legacies revolving around heroes – and there is a connection between them. As Romain Rolland said admiringly of Beethoven: »You are the embodiment of heroism in all of modern art. You give us your bravery, your faith that struggle is bliss.« Due to the political events around Napoleon, numerous myths surround Beethoven’s »Eroica«. The symphony was initially dedicated to the Frenchman – but even Prometheus, who brought fire to mankind in ancient times, is a possible candidate as the hero. And it is also possible that this instrumental journey may even retrace Beethoven's own fate. For the generations that followed, the famous Helden-Symphonie has remained a powerful memory – including for Richard Strauss, who almost a century later referred to the model in a way that was both playful and serious: »Ein Heldenleben« is set in E-flat major, like the »Eroica«, and displays autobiographical characteristics. In the meantime, Strauss even referred to it as a »heroic symphony«. The result is a very haunting work: at the beginning, the protagonist confronts his adversaries – the malicious envious and presumptuous know-it-alls and supposedly the nagging music critics of that time. For peace of mind, the hero then ultimately flees the world with his beloved mate. Strauss gave numerous hints about the detailed content of the symphonic poem – but what was important to him was its central message: »It is enough to know that it portrays a hero in combat with his enemies.«

Jakub Hrůša conducts Beethoven

Under the baton of our Chief Conductor, we take our listeners on musical soul-searchings through emotional highs and lows: We combine two sonic legacies revolving around heroes – and there is a connection between them. As Romain Rolland said admiringly of Beethoven: »You are the embodiment of heroism in all of modern art. You give us your bravery, your faith that struggle is bliss.« Due to the political events around Napoleon, numerous myths surround Beethoven’s »Eroica«. The symphony was initially dedicated to the Frenchman – but even Prometheus, who brought fire to mankind in ancient times, is a possible candidate as the hero. And it is also possible that this instrumental journey may even retrace Beethoven's own fate. For the generations that followed, the famous Helden-Symphonie has remained a powerful memory – including for Richard Strauss, who almost a century later referred to the model in a way that was both playful and serious: »Ein Heldenleben« is set in E-flat major, like the »Eroica«, and displays autobiographical characteristics. In the meantime, Strauss even referred to it as a »heroic symphony«. The result is a very haunting work: at the beginning, the protagonist confronts his adversaries – the malicious envious and presumptuous know-it-alls and supposedly the nagging music critics of that time. For peace of mind, the hero then ultimately flees the world with his beloved mate. Strauss gave numerous hints about the detailed content of the symphonic poem – but what was important to him was its central message: »It is enough to know that it portrays a hero in combat with his enemies.«

Jakub Hrůša conducts Beethoven and Stravinsky

»O Beethoven! You are the greatest and best friend of those who suffer, of those who struggle. When the misery of the whole world overpowers us, you move close to us, as you did to a grieving mother, sitting wordlessly at the piano offering comfort to the weeping.« In these words, a contemporary described the effect Beethoven‘s music can have on troubled souls. We play his B-flat major concerto, which earned »the undivided approval of the audience« already in 1795: it has many lively passages – but the heart of the piece is the Adagio, in which an emotional dialogue between solo instrument and orchestra unfolds. We are delighted that the legendary pianist Mitsuko Uchida will once again join us for one of Beethoven‘s famous concertos. Before that, the overture from Cherubini‘s opera »Medea«, first performed in 1797, will be played – a soul drama revolving around a Greek tragedian figure whose ruptured emotional world between love and hate is the main subject. The composition does have lyrical interludes, but is otherwise characterised by unbridled passion. Stravinsky‘s »Le Sacre du printemps« also impressively shows the maelstrom that music can develop and thereby intensively touch the soul: It is a pagan story about the »yearly cycle of forces that are reborn and fall back into the womb of nature« – represented by blessings of the earth, ritual dances and an offering to the gods. At its premiere as a ballet, the composition caused a genuine scandal, but after its first concert performance, the music was quickly recognised for its magic – it captivates with a primal rhythmic power that, according to Stravinsky, »seizes every sensitive spirit«.

Works by Sibelius, Shostakovich and Beethoven

Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts Mozart and Shostakovich

There are some instruments that are particularly good at touching the innermost – among them is the clarinet. As early as 1784, a journalist raved: »Whoever plays the clarinet soulfully seems to declare his love to the whole world, to the heavenly beings themselves«. Mozart had quickly understood that gripping music was possible with the then newly invented woodwind instrument – and so in 1791, shortly before his untimely death, he composed his famous Clarinet Concerto. Especially in the Adagio, the chanting tone becomes fully effective: in a magical way, the clarinet »sings« of love, joy, beauty and perhaps even of the premonition of the end of life – the dedicatee Anton Stadler is said to have remarked: »Let him sing once more, even if it be his swan song«. Before our solo clarinettist Christoph Müller takes over the soulful performance for this hauntingly beautiful work, we play a piece from the Finnish homeland of our guest conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste: »Hit & Run« was penned by Sauli Zinovjev, born in 1988, who is causing a stir with his emotional orchestral works and was recently a guest in Bamberg for a year on a Villa Concordia scholarship. We conclude with a journey into the cosmos of Shostakovich, who also wanted to reflect current feelings and thoughts with his music – and said: »When I learn that someone is being tortured, I feel the pain myself.« We play his touching Eighth Symphony, with which he did not deliver the heroic work his fatherland wanted in the middle of the war in 1943, but cast the suffering of his soul in mostly gloomy sounds – a conductor friend said that Shostakovich thereby set »the horror of the life of an intellectual at that time« into music.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts Mozart and Shostakovich

There are some instruments that are particularly good at touching the innermost – among them is the clarinet. As early as 1784, a journalist raved: »Whoever plays the clarinet soulfully seems to declare his love to the whole world, to the heavenly beings themselves«. Mozart had quickly understood that gripping music was possible with the then newly invented woodwind instrument – and so in 1791, shortly before his untimely death, he composed his famous Clarinet Concerto. Especially in the Adagio, the chanting tone becomes fully effective: in a magical way, the clarinet »sings« of love, joy, beauty and perhaps even of the premonition of the end of life – the dedicatee Anton Stadler is said to have remarked: »Let him sing once more, even if it be his swan song«. Before our solo clarinettist Christoph Müller takes over the soulful performance for this hauntingly beautiful work, we play a piece from the Finnish homeland of our guest conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste: »Hit & Run« was penned by Sauli Zinovjev, born in 1988, who is causing a stir with his emotional orchestral works and was recently a guest in Bamberg for a year on a Villa Concordia scholarship. We conclude with a journey into the cosmos of Shostakovich, who also wanted to reflect current feelings and thoughts with his music – and said: »When I learn that someone is being tortured, I feel the pain myself.« We play his touching Eighth Symphony, with which he did not deliver the heroic work his fatherland wanted in the middle of the war in 1943, but cast the suffering of his soul in mostly gloomy sounds – a conductor friend said that Shostakovich thereby set »the horror of the life of an intellectual at that time« into music.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Beethoven and Brahms

Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich: two world stars who have known and appreciated each other since their childhood together in Argentina. However, it is only in the past few years they have performed together with the Berliner Philharmoniker – always impressing listeners with their musical and human connection. This season, Martha Argerich will be the soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a work which exudes a youthful vigour. Daniel Barenboim – honorary conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker – also conducts Johannes Brahms' profound and intense Fourth Symphony.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Beethoven and Brahms

Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich: two world stars who have known and appreciated each other since their childhood together in Argentina. However, it is only in the past few years they have performed together with the Berliner Philharmoniker – always impressing listeners with their musical and human connection. This season, Martha Argerich will be the soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a work which exudes a youthful vigour. Daniel Barenboim – honorary conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker – also conducts Johannes Brahms' profound and intense Fourth Symphony.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Beethoven and Brahms

Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich: two world stars who have known and appreciated each other since their childhood together in Argentina. However, it is only in the past few years they have performed together with the Berliner Philharmoniker – always impressing listeners with their musical and human connection. This season, Martha Argerich will be the soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a work which exudes a youthful vigour. Daniel Barenboim – honorary conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker – also conducts Johannes Brahms' profound and intense Fourth Symphony.

Christoph Eschenbach conducts Beethoven and Brahms

In this concert, our honorary conductor guides us through a programme that brings to mind Goethe: »A thousand and a thousand thoughts rise and sink within me. My soul is like an everlasting firework without rest.« Beethoven could certainly have said the same thing about his hot-tempered disposition and extreme mood swings. His violin concerto was composed in 1806 – but he wrote down his many ideas for it so late that the premiere violinist had to play this rather difficult piece almost from sight. It is characterised by a spirit that is certainly reminiscent of the proverb that nowadays goes by the motto »Himmelhoch jauchzend, zu Tode betrübt« (»rejoicing to the skies, saddened to death«). A masterpiece from the history of music, for which we welcome as soloist María Dueñas, an »Andalusian violin miracle«: it is said of the young virtuoso that she elicits »a soulful and at times a fiery sound« from her instrument. Beethoven‘s groundbreaking compositions were both a curse and a blessing for the following generations – including Brahms, who confided to a friend: »You have no idea how it makes all of us feel to hear such a giant marching behind you all the time.« But on the other hand, Beethoven was also seen as his great role model. Nevertheless, it took Brahms a very long time to complete his first symphony: he spent 14 years crafting it, with interruptions from 1862 to 1876. And then, after this fierce symphonic struggle, there was finally lots of balm for his soul: Hans von Bülow was so enthusiastic about the First that he exuberantly described it as »Beethoven‘s Tenth«. The work is a stroke of genius: from the fateful conflict in the opening to the emotional triumph in the final movement – and all in all an enchanting journey of discovery with many interwoven insights.