Ligeti 100

Gastkonzert: Pierre Boulez 100

The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden celebrates Pierre Boulez's 100th birthday with several concerts, including two of his "younger" works alongside Bruckner's last symphony. Boulez admired Bruckner, frequently conducting his works. "Figures – Doubles – Prismes" showcases variations and doublings of musical figures, culminating in a re-examination of the earlier work. Boulez also sets E. E. Cummings's poems to music, creating a unique blend of text and sound.

Ligeti Strawinsky Brahms

Ligeti Strawinsky Brahms

Celebrating Allan Edwall 100 years

100 years after his birth, Allan Edwall’s music and lyrics are as relevant today as when he wrote them. Poetry, social criticism, humor, and seriousness permeate all his works. Helen Sjöholm, Bengan Janson, and Lennart Jähkel have explored Allan’s rich production and offer both music and lyrics in a unique performance! Script: Bengan Janson and Carsten Palmær.Allan Edwall was a beloved actor, director, theater manager, author, and songwriter, among other things. Born into a working-class family in Jämtland, he went on to become one of Sweden’s most famous and appreciated actors in film and theatre. He made his recording debut in 1979 with Grovdoppa, which was followed by several albums featuring his texts and music. In the late 1980s, he founded Teater Brunnsgatan Fyra and began a successful collaboration with Kristina Lugn. Together with Bengan Janson, he also formed the group De tröstlösa.Since her breakthrough in Kristina från Duvemåla, Helen Sjöholm has been a favorite with the public, constantly in the spotlight in various contexts. Nimble-fingered and quick-witted, Bengan Janson is regarded as one of our foremost musicians and has a direct connection to Allan Edwall, having collaborated with him for many years. Lennart Jähkel is one of the country’s most well-known actors, with a series of notable roles in theater, film, and television. Lars Ericsson is a long-time associate at Estrad Norr and has, over three decades, performed with Sweden’s leading musicians and artists.

Celebrating Allan Edwall 100 years

100 years after his birth, Allan Edwall’s music and lyrics are as relevant today as when he wrote them. Poetry, social criticism, humor, and seriousness permeate all his works. Helen Sjöholm, Bengan Janson, and Lennart Jähkel have explored Allan’s rich production and offer both music and lyrics in a unique performance! Script: Bengan Janson and Carsten Palmær.Allan Edwall was a beloved actor, director, theater manager, author, and songwriter, among other things. Born into a working-class family in Jämtland, he went on to become one of Sweden’s most famous and appreciated actors in film and theatre. He made his recording debut in 1979 with Grovdoppa, which was followed by several albums featuring his texts and music. In the late 1980s, he founded Teater Brunnsgatan Fyra and began a successful collaboration with Kristina Lugn. Together with Bengan Janson, he also formed the group De tröstlösa.Since her breakthrough in Kristina från Duvemåla, Helen Sjöholm has been a favorite with the public, constantly in the spotlight in various contexts. Nimble-fingered and quick-witted, Bengan Janson is regarded as one of our foremost musicians and has a direct connection to Allan Edwall, having collaborated with him for many years. Lennart Jähkel is one of the country’s most well-known actors, with a series of notable roles in theater, film, and television. Lars Ericsson is a long-time associate at Estrad Norr and has, over three decades, performed with Sweden’s leading musicians and artists.

Patricia Kopatchinskaja mit Schostakowitsch und Ligeti

Linie 2: 100 Jahre Pierre Boulez

A concert workshop in Freiburg's E-Werk will feature conductor Oscar Jockel explaining Pierre Boulez's "Polyphonie X" with the SWR Symphony Orchestra. This piece, a scandal at its 1951 premiere, connects Boulez's early and later styles. Following the analysis and full performance, the concert includes Webern's arrangement of Bach's "Fuga Ricerata" and Webern's Symphony Op. 21, highlighting polyphony and musical development, both crucial to Boulez's work. A second performance of "Polyphonie X" concludes the evening.

Linie 2: 100 Jahre Pierre Boulez

At the start of the Boulez Year, the Wizemann in Stuttgart will host a unique concert workshop. Conductor Oscar Jockel will introduce Boulez's "Polyphonie X," explaining it with excerpts played by the SWR Symphony Orchestra. This piece, a bridge between Boulez's early and later styles, caused a scandal at its 1951 premiere. The concert also includes Webern's arrangement of Bach's "Fuga Ricerata" and Webern's Symphony Op. 21, both relevant to Boulez's work, and concludes with a second performance of "Polyphonie X."

Jakub Hrůša conducts Brahms, Ligeti und Dvořák

Dvořák's American symphony, composed in 1893, is considered a masterpiece, blending Native American and gospel tunes with a Czech atmosphere. Brahms admired Dvořák's effortless creativity. Brahms's own symphonic peak, created in 1884/85, features themes in constant transformation. Ligeti's 1962 "Poème symphonique" stands as a unique creation, using 100 metronomes to create an effect of time and pulse.

Jakub Hrůša conducts Brahms, Ligeti and Dvořák

"I spent such happy hours in your wonderful creation. One is enveloped by its mysterious spell from beginning to end!" Clara Schumann wrote these enthusiastic words about Brahms' Third Symphony, which he completed during his 1883 summer vacation in the area around Wiesbaden. His holiday routine was to go for an early morning walk or swim and then sit down at his desk or the piano. This creative process left its mark on the charming symphony, whose emotional beauty was praised by Dvořák, too: “It is pure love and makes your heart soar." Brahms in turn commented enviously on his colleague and close friend's inventiveness: “That fellow has more ideas than any of us. Everyone else could assemble their main themes from the scraps he has rejected." Dvořák's magnificent Eighth Symphony thus also features on our programme. In this work, composed in 1889 at his Czech country estate, he gave his creative imagination free rein – the outcome is a fascinating and multifaceted score that one biographer described as “brimming with vivid colour”. These two symphonies frame an ethereal piece by this year's jubilarian György Ligeti, who once said: "I have a vision, not a dogma, not a finished system. I don't want to achieve a result and then stop. I keep myself open to influences." His febrile 1967 composition "Lontano" is a journey into a utopian metaphysical realm of gradually evolving soundscapes. Ligeti suggested that listeners should imagine walking out of the bright sunlight into a dark room, where they would only gradually become able to perceive colours and contours.