Organ concert at the turn of the year

Paul Jacobs / Organ Concert

Not only is »Livre du Saint-Sacrement« the final and most extensive organ work by Olivier Messiaen, it also marks the grand summation of his entire oeuvre, with the French composer delving right back to his early beginnings. Like his first composition for organ, »Le banquet céleste«, its subject matter is the Holy Communion. Though unequivocally theological, this music also has an overwhelming inner depth. It is an immense source of fascination and sensuality. And, lasting some two hours in total, it is also both a revelation and something of a challenge. The American organist Paul Jacobs, who has been described by the Washington Post as one of the »greatest living virtuosos« and is the first organist ever to win a Grammy, is now headed for the Elbphilharmonie. Since 2002, he has performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in marathon concerts across various US cities, each lasting an inordinate number of hours. No question, then, that Jacobs is just the right man for this quite daunting undertaking.

ORGAN CONCERT: Karol Mossakowski

The young Polish organist Karol Mossakowski, celebrated for his virtuoso interpretations and creative improvisations, will be our guest in this breathtaking concert of scintillating organ music. The programme includes elaborate compositions such as the popular work "Cortège et Litanie" by Marcel Dupré, which was originally written in the early 1920s for the stage and contains a wealth of catchy tunes. César Franck completed his organ "Pastorale" in 1862 – a piece composed in the form of a three-part song and, in keeping with its title, full of tender expression. Maurice Duruflé created a poignant work in memory of a friend who died in World War II, whose name he wove both into the introductory minor prelude and into the zestful double fugue. Thierry Escaich’s creative universe is shaped by the “battle between emotions”. His 1997 “Tanz fantasie” is correspondingly passionate – luxuriating in lyrical, arching melodies, but also offering surprising shifts in rhythm, and finally intensifying into a frenzied dance that scarcely obeys the laws of nature. Mendelssohn created his 1841 "Variations sérieuses" with "true passion”. Over the course of this work, an outstanding original theme becomes increasingly harmonically veiled, while its range of expression is continuously expanded. Before Karel Mossakowski presents his spontaneous improvisational creations to bring the concert to a close, we will hear Pierre Cochereau’s magnificent Boléro. This 1973 composition audibly refers to Ravel’s masterpiece, for here, too, the rhythm of the snare drum forms the backbone of the music’s mesmerising development.

Organ Concert: Tomaž Sevšek

A whole range of stops will be pulled out once again: This time, an experienced and acclaimed organist will be our guest at the keys and pedals of our concert organ, much loved by the audience. Together with strings from the Bamberg Symphony, he will present several works that are wonderfully fitting for this Advent Sunday. The first part is dedicated to baroque music: after three touching solo pieces by Bach, a long-lost concerto for organ and violin by Vivaldi is performed – a particularly melody-laden example of his boundless artistry. In the second part, Tomaž Sevšek offers a foray into other musical realms – including a work composed in 1951 by his compatriot Primož Ramovš, whose numerous organ pieces have only rarely been performed in Germany to date. Portuguese composer João Pedro Oliveira is a versatile and award-winning composer: »Persistent Particles« from 2021 experiments with the tonal and technical possibilities of the organ in a fascinating manner. Schumann rented a pedal keyboard for his grand piano in 1845, which gave him and his wife Clara »much delight«. One of the results was the intimate study for pedal piano – in which Schumann expressed his spiritual and compositional affinity with Bach. The French composer Alexandre Guilmant expressed his fondness for the German Romantic composer in his atmospheric work »Final alla Schumann« in 1893.

New Year at the Philharmonie

She’s got it, that certain something stars are made of: Anna Prohaska. Recalcitrant look, cheeky wisecracks, an avowed metal fan, yet at the same time thoughtful, deep. »I love being on stage,« she says, and she evidently finds the right tone for each and every musical style, even in operas with »rather convoluted language«. With her luminous soprano, she will rejoice in Mozart’s motet ›Exsultate, jubilate‹, taking it to soaring heights. Hallelujah!

Organ concert: Schmitt Koch Kabadaić

The stage is set for our favourite organist, who is also in great demand on the international scene: In the last organ concert of this season, Christian Schmitt will play our large concert hall organ – accompanied by our solo flutist Daniela Koch and our deputy solo violist Branko Kabadaić. The concert begins with a fascinating etude for organ pedal, which Christian Schmitt premièred in Zurich in 2023 – and about which the composer Maximilian Schnaus writes: »The musical idea illuminates the peripheral areas of the organ sound and the peripheral areas of our perception.« Liszt studied Bach’s organ works and passions intensively, particularly during his time in Weimar – and his affection for this Baroque master found intimate expression in the Andante »Aus tiefer Not«, written in 1859. Paul Hindemith wrote this touching funeral music on a concert tour in London on 21 January 1936 within a few hours after King George V had died there on the previous day. Bach’s masterful Sonata in G major captivates with its skilful interweaving of voices between the two instruments. For César Franck, it was clear: »Mon orgue? – C'est un orchestre!« And that is exactly how his magnificent musical creations sound – including the »Grande pièce symphonique«, completed in 1862, which even bears the required orchestral gesture in its title. Tōru Takemitsu, the cosmopolitan and influential composer from Japan, created an almost revolutionary work in 1971 with his flute piece »Voice« – because the human voice is included here in an interesting way. To wrap things up, the concertino by Cécile Chaminade, written in 1902, impresses with its breathtaking virtuosity, passionate gestures, shimmering harmonies and yearning melodies.

Organ matinee In memory of Jean Guillou

Slovakian organist Zuzana Ferjenčíková dedicates her debut concert on the organ of the Berlin Philharmonie Berlin to her teacher Jean Guillou, who died in 2019. Guillou performed on the the Philharmonie’s organ several times himself. His speciality: his own arrangements of famous orchestral works, with which he created unexpected orchestral timbres on the organ. Zuzana Ferjenčíková plays some of Guillou's most impressive arrangements, including the delicate “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker and Mussorgsky's powerful cycle Pictures at an Exhibition.

ORGAN CONCERT: Christian Schmitt & Stefan Kurt

On 26 February 2023, a special programme on the season's theme of "Creation" will be presented at the Bamberg Concert Hall. The well-known Swiss actor Stefan Kurt will be a guest in the organ series of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. In keeping with Bamberg, he will read "The Story of the Lost Mirror Image" by the well-known Romantic writer E.T.A Hoffmann. With his novellistic works, Hoffmann is considered the most influential German storyteller after Goethe and until the breakthrough of Kafka's works after 1945.For this purpose, the Principal Organist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra has selected early and late masterpieces by composers such as Bach, Mendelssohn, Widor, Brandmüller and Reger, including the well-known Passacaglia by Johann Sebastian Bach and the monumental Fantasy and Fugue in D minor op. 135b by Max Reger.With his leading role in the successful TV multi-part "Der Schattenmann" directed by Dieter Wedel, Stefan Kurt became known to a wide audience and received the Adolf Grimme Award and the Telestar for his acting performance in 1997. This is followed by extensive film and television work. 2020 sees his first collaboration with Barrie Kosky at the Komische Oper Berlin with the operetta "Frühlingsstürme".Christian Schmitt has now been curating the organ series for seven years, with highlights this season including his debut at Carnegie Hall New York under Dennis Russell Davies, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, and in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's organ series.

ORGAN CONCERT: Tobias Lindner & Jeremy Joseph

"O tell me, who invented this miraculous construction, full of the voices of everything that lives?" Herder asked in his poem "The Organ" – the instrument that "unites the breath of all creation". This concert will see two fascinating performers immerse themselves in the multifaceted universe of organ music: Tobias Lindner, winner of numerous international competitions and professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, will open the concert with a work by an unknown master from his Bavarian homeland. The mid-19th century piece "Elevazione" by Padre Davide da Bergamo is a fresh and tuneful celebration of the liturgical elevation of the host. Bach's trio sonata, composed around 1730, features both intricate fugue techniques and sensuous passages. Opera aficionado Giovanni Morandi created his Campanelli Rondo in 1883, an organ piece that contains not a few surprises. The Hungarian composer Dezsö Antalffy-Zsiross thrilled early 20th-century audiences with his spectacular works, and his "Chanson dans la nuit” contains echoes of early jazz. The programme’s second half will be performed by Jeremy Joseph, a South African organist who has won several prestigious awards. He is currently the chapel organist of the Hofburg in Vienna and also teaches as a professor at the University of Vienna. He will start with a highly virtuosic and sonorous Prelude and Fugue by Bach. Mozart wrote the rondo-like Andante for barrel organ, an enchanting music-box piece full of dainty passages in a high treble register, in 1791, the year of his death. Messiaen’s jubilant final movement of his major 1986 composition "Le Livre du Saint-Sacrement" undoubtedly succeeded in achieving this composer’s goal to create a universal dimension of "music that touches all things and God at the same time".

Guest performance Swinging Brass at the Turn of the Year