| Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin | Orchestra |
| Tianyi Lu | Conductor |
| Ionel Ungureanu | Viola |
| Mirabelle Kajenjeri | Piano |
| Salina Fisher | Tupaia |
| Anders Hillborg | Concerto for Viola and Orchestra |
| Richard Strauss | Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra in D minor |
| Igor Stravinsky | Petroushka: Suite arranged by Leopold Stokowski |
These events are similar in terms of concept, place, musicians or the program.
Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle, Yevgeny Kissin, Cecilia Bartoli, Daniil Trifonov and many others presented themselves to a Berlin audience for the first time here: kicked off in 1959 under the title ›RIAS stellt vor‹ (RIAS presents), the ›Debüt im Deutschlandfunk Kultur‹ concert series presents the most interesting young musicians through the present day; they can be heard not only in the Berliner Philharmonie, but also on the radio all across Germany. Get to know tomorrow’s stars today alongside the DSO!
A puppet is brought to life, but is then plagued by bothersome human feelings like love, jealousy and anger … and dies again. That’s the story of Petrushka from Stravinsky’s ballet of the same name from 1911. A Russian cousin of Pinocchio? Well yes, but without the happy ending of a Disney film, not spun out of sugar, like candy floss, which didn’t yet exist in St. Petersburg in the 1830s, where the tragic story takes place. But instead, delightful fun fair music, Russian folk songs and dances. All in the scope of the ›Debut‹ series, where you can experience tomorrow’s stars today with the DSO.
“In the rising of a symphony there is something divine, something similar to creation itself." (Leonard Bernstein) Life is in constant transformation and the world in constant change – and so, too, is the history of music! When eight-year-old Mozart composed his first symphonic work in 1764, the late baroque was transitioning to the classical era. The symphony was in the process of emancipating itself from its origins in the overture to Neapolitan opera. In this concert, our orchestra will perform two early symphonies by Mozart, who once said, "Creation emerges as in a pleasant and lively dream." Conductor Fabio Biondi specialises in bringing rare works to the stage, and thus this programme will feature works seldom heard from his native Italy. The Milanese composer Carlo Monza was highly regarded during his lifetime, but only a few of his pieces have been rediscovered to date. One of these is the striking Sinfonia "La tempesta di mare" of 1784, where the music condenses into a veritable storm. Giuseppe Sammartini was likewise born in Milan and later worked in London, where he was considered one of the greatest oboists of his day. His popular instrumental concertos were said to be "full of science, originality and fire". The talented Niccoló Jommelli came from Naples, but was successful beyond Italy’s borders. His opera symphonies in particular were considered exemplary and were widely disseminated as independent works from 1750 onwards. Our programme will end with a composition by another famous Wunderkind: in 1824, at the age of just 15, Mendelssohn wrote his extravagantly romantic C minor Symphony – an astonishing creation of which it was said: "New, beautiful, original. Spirit, flow, calm, melodiousness, wholeness, drama."
Late romantic confessions! Dvořák was keen to breathe fresh life into Catholic church music in his native Bohemia. For him, religiousness was a necessary prerequisite for his creative work, and he said: "Don't be surprised that I am so devout – an artist who is not devout will not achieve such things". As he grew older, the setting of liturgical texts became increasingly important for him – possibly as a way of expressing his thoughts about the end of life. He wrote his "Biblical Songs” in 1894, while living in New York. Shortly beforehand, news had reached him of the deaths of his contemporaries Tchaikovsky and Gounod, as well as the news from home that his father had passed away. These ten songs, which set texts from the Book of Psalms, range in expression from laments and prayers of intercession, fear and confidence to the praise of God and trust in his help – moving pieces written in a state of grief far from his beloved Bohemia. The concert will close with the musical volcanic eruptions and unforgettably catchy melodies of the popular D minor Symphony by César Franck, whom a contemporary once jokingly called a "modulation machine”. Like Dvořák, the Belgian-born composer was a strict Catholic. For many years he worked as an organist in Paris, developing a creativity all of his own as a composer – as attested by this symphony, which was first performed in 1889. The music portrays numerous struggles, but ends in inner triumph. Its final bars are solemn, majestic, proud – after all, it was said of Franck that “he knows himself to be one with God and trusts in the mission He has given him on earth.”
E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote that "Haydn and Mozart, the creators of the newer instrumental music, first showed us art in its full glory; but Beethoven is the one who looked at it with a gaze full of love and penetrated its innermost essence.” András Schiff features in this concert as both conductor and pianist, performing works inspired by very different places and ideas. Our musical journey will start with one of Haydn’s "London Symphonies”, named for the British capital even though Haydn did not in fact compose it there. Rather, he travelled to England with the score of the E flat major Symphony in his luggage, ready to be premiered shortly after his arrival in 1794. One critic praised its “ideas, as new in music as they are grand and impressive”. Our programme also features Beethoven’s popular Fifth Piano Concerto. It was composed in 1809, when Vienna was being bombarded by French troops. In the English-speaking world, the concerto is known as "Emperor” because of its thundering, martial tone. But its rich trove of complex emotions is equally fascinating – Beethoven is said to have had "the religious songs of pious pilgrims" in mind when composing the Adagio. In addition to these two masterpieces, our orchestra will perform a work that draws on the music of earlier times: the folk music of his native region was an important source of inspiration for Bartók, and his ravishing dance suite is "a kind of ideally conceived peasant music". He wrote it in 1923 for the 50th anniversary of the unification of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest to form the new capital city of Budapest. In doing so, Bartók looked beyond the borders of Hungary, weaving Romanian, Slovakian and even Arabic influences into his work. After all, his goal was to “create a new spirit in music – from musical forces sprung from the earth itself!”This project was originally planned for December 2020 but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic – we are thrilled that the great artist Andràs Schiff is now finally able to join us in Bamberg!
»Music is love‘s soul, for it is the touching of the divine with the human.« These were the thoughts of Bettina von Arnim – and in our concert conducted by Andrew Manze we indulge in such deep soundscapes as Respighi‘s »Concerto Gregoriano« from 1921: it conjures up a religiously solemn world of the middle ages – inspired by his preoccupation with the honorable church modes and meditative melodies of Gregorian chant, which had seized him »like an addiction« at the time. The violin concerto is therefore largely a lyrical-contemplative composition and quotes the Easter sequence »victimae paschali laudes« in the middle movement – but in the end it soars hymn-like with echoes of the famous »Salve Regina« chant like a fervent profession of faith. One critic characterised the violin part as that of »a cantor in an ancient religious ceremony, with the orchestra personifying the choir of the believers«. With us, Frank Peter Zimmermann will assume the role of solo choir leader with his Stradivarius. What follows is a journey into the Bruckner cosmos: his creative work was inseparably intertwined with religious sentiments, which earned him the nickname »Musician of God«. Before he had dared to approach symphonies, he had already made a name for himself as an eminent organist and church composer. After several dissatisfactory attempts, he composed his first definitive symphony in Linz in 1865/66 – which, however, he reworked in Vienna in 1891 on the basis of the experience he had gathered thereafter: it captivates the listener with its natural originality, grandiose themes and climax after climax – and in addition offers deep insights into Bruckner‘s state of mind in the heartfelt Adagio.
»Passion is a state of the soul.« Salvator Dali once said this – and Tchaikovsky can arguably be regarded as the embodiment of this state: He was an emotional man through and through, who often struggled with not being what society expected him to be. Even his nanny called him a »porcelain child«. His states of mind left traces, especially in his most individual symphony, which was premiered in 1893 shortly before his unexpected death. He said he had »put his whole soul into the "Pathétique«: The work outlines different stages of his life with passionate melodies as well as an orgy of bass notes – and concludes with a heartbreaking Adagio. Prokofiev, too, was regularly subject to severe hostility and left his Russian homeland after the October Revolution of 1917 – but was never really pleased with having to live in what he saw as an alien »mental climate«. Shortly before he returned, he wrote the Second Violin Concerto in 1935 during his »nomadic existence«: although it is peppered with sarcastic humour, it follows the great Romantic tradition: one biographer characterised »the almost cliché-like enchanting« gesture of the solo violin in the Andante as »soulfulness« – in which Vadim Gluzman will wallow. A contemporary example of an artist who had to leave his beloved fatherland is the eminent composer Valentin Silvestrov: he fled Ukraine for Berlin. At the beginning of our concert, we will play his »Evening Serenade« from 2002 under the baton of Juraj Valčuha – a very melancholic piece which, thanks to its contemplative limbo, seems like a memory of beautiful and fulfilling hours of times gone by.
Concert Pulse