Jonathan Nott conducts Mahler's 5th Symphony

Jonathan Nott conducts Mahler's 5th Symphony

This concert sees the return of our former principal conductor Jonathan Nott. Under his baton, our orchestra will immerse itself in the works of composers who created their very own musical universes, seeking to capture their thoughts and sorrows. Arvo Pärt, born in Estonia in 1935, achieves this with his contemplative "tintinnabuli style”, which often reflects the era of Gregorian chant, which Pärt describes as "music with soul". His popular work "Fratres" celebrates brotherly harmony and conjures up the image of a candlelit procession of medieval monks. This "ceaseless prayer" is followed by a powerful work in which the Hungarian György Kurtág sought to overcome personal tragedy. His dark and obsessive "Grabstein für Stephan was created in 1989 as a musical memorial for the husband of a psychologist who had once helped Kurtág get over of a creative block in which he felt, "to the point of despair”, that "there was nothing true in the world" and was "unable to find a foothold in reality". Mahler likewise often struggled with what was happening around him, seeking an answer to "questions about God, about the meaning and purpose of our existence" as well as to the "why in all of creation”. In this concert, we will perform his Fifth Symphony of 1902, a multifaceted work in which numerous storms are weathered – but the ethereal Adagietto provides a respite in the midst of all this turbulence. This movement became particularly famous through its use in Visconti's classic film "Death in Venice" – and its achingly nostalgic harmonies reveal a closeness to the transcendence of Mahler’s Rückert setting "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen".

Oramo conducts Mahler's Fourth Symphony

Sakari Oramo conducts Mahler’s playful Fourth Symphony – and plays the violin too, as Kurt Weill retells the myth of Orpheus in his own, utterly original style.

Junge Deutsche Philharmonie | Jonathan Nott

The Young German Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its 50th anniversary! Founded in 1974, this talent factory for aspiring orchestral musicians regularly collaborates with top conductors and soloists, including Jonathan Nott, their Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor. With this Mahler expert, the orchestra is celebrating its anniversary with Mahler's breathtaking 7th Symphony, a multifaceted work full of funeral march thoughts, bizarre waltz spookiness, jubilant fanfares, cowbells, and folk song elements in the two "Nachtmusik" movements.

Jonathan Nott and Pierre-Laurent Aimard

He performed in the circus, was celebrated as a pianist, was made to do forced labour under Stalin – György Cziffra’s life was full of successes and tragedies. These are portrayed in a radical and touching way in Cziffra Psodia, a piano concerto composed by fellow Hungarian Peter Eötvös. The soloist for this performance is Pierre-Laurent Aimard; Jonathan Nott conducts. In the same programme, Charles Ives’ Fourth Symphony takes us into early American modernism: a visionary collage of hymns, marches and fugues that explores fundamental questions of existence, performed by a powerful orchestra with piano and choir.

Jonathan Nott and Pierre-Laurent Aimard

He performed in the circus, was celebrated as a pianist, was made to do forced labour under Stalin – György Cziffra’s life was full of successes and tragedies. These are portrayed in a radical and touching way in Cziffra Psodia, a piano concerto composed by fellow Hungarian Peter Eötvös. The soloist for this performance is Pierre-Laurent Aimard; Jonathan Nott conducts. In the same programme, Charles Ives’ Fourth Symphony takes us into early American modernism: a visionary collage of hymns, marches and fugues that explores fundamental questions of existence, performed by a powerful orchestra with piano and choir.

Jonathan Nott dirigiert Szymanowski, Zemlinsky und Tschaikowsky

Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler’s Sixth

“The Sixth is his most personal work, and a prophetic one at that” – said Gustav Mahler’s wife Alma. And in fact, with its apocalyptic tonal language, which is only occasionally lightened, the symphony seems to anticipate Mahler’s great personal catastrophes: the diagnosis of a heart condition, the death of his daughter, and professional failures. It is music that looks into the abyss. Gustavo Dudamel, one of the world’s most popular conductors, directs this performance. He has already performed Mahler symphonies on several occasions with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler’s Sixth

“The Sixth is his most personal work, and a prophetic one at that” – said Gustav Mahler’s wife Alma. And in fact, with its apocalyptic tonal language, which is only occasionally lightened, the symphony seems to anticipate Mahler’s great personal catastrophes: the diagnosis of a heart condition, the death of his daughter, and professional failures. It is music that looks into the abyss. Gustavo Dudamel, one of the world’s most popular conductors, directs this performance. He has already performed Mahler symphonies on several occasions with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler’s Sixth

“The Sixth is his most personal work, and a prophetic one at that” – said Gustav Mahler’s wife Alma. And in fact, with its apocalyptic tonal language, which is only occasionally lightened, the symphony seems to anticipate Mahler’s great personal catastrophes: the diagnosis of a heart condition, the death of his daughter, and professional failures. It is music that looks into the abyss. Gustavo Dudamel, one of the world’s most popular conductors, directs this performance. He has already performed Mahler symphonies on several occasions with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Tugan Sokhiev conducts Mahler’s First

It is his first major work, and yet it is a mature musical statement. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 contains everything that would characterise the composer’s later style: emotional outbursts, sudden yawning chasms, folkloric melodies, the sounds of nature, grotesque alienations. Conductor Tugan Sokhiev places this work alongside Lili Boulanger’s impressionistic, shimmering D’un matin de printemps and a newly-composed viola concerto by South Korean composer Donghoon Shin – also an admirer of Mahler. The solo part of the world premiere will be played by Amihai Grosz, first principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker.