Kent Nagano conducts Hosokawa and Bruckner

SOLD OUT: Kent Nagano conducts Hosokawa and Bruckner

»The flute so gracefully captures the ears that it brings calm and peace to all emotions, right into the soul«. This quote from Plutarch builds a wonderful bridge to the opening of our concert – the spiritual flute concerto by the prominent Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa. Premiered in 2022, the piece is about a fascinating ceremony. According to Hosokawa, the solo part represents »a shamanic person« who invokes the orchestra as »the world, the universe, nature« using breathing sounds to summon supernatural forces: »The breathing sounds echo through the flute just like the wind in nature and become the song that awakens the spirit.« Our solo flutist Daniela Koch assumes the role of the shaman in this ritualistic piece, about which Hosokawa noted that it was »also prayer music for the end of the pandemic, as it was composed during the Corona catastrophe.« This fits with something Bruckner said in 1874 shortly after completing the first version of his third symphony: »Because the present state of the world, spiritually speaking, is weakness, I resort to strength and compose powerful music.« Many of Bruckner's movements are symphonic canticles in a sublime style, moving through the struggles and trials of a soul seeking its way to salvation through pain and suffering. Since the premiere of his third symphony was a dreadful disaster for him, he revised it multiple times, feeling deeply depressed – and finally scored a success with the 1889 version. Bruckner said about the fluctuating moods of this symphonic cosmos: »That‘s just the way it is in life. The polka stands for the humour and cheerfulness of the world – the chorale for the sadness and pain in it.«

Kent Nagano

Kirill Petrenko conducts Bruckner and Rihm

Anton Bruckner’s symphonies have often been described as cathedrals of sound. And they really do combine a powerful architecture of sound with soaring climaxes and visions of the transcendent. This also applies to the Fifth Symphony, which Bruckner called his “contrapuntal masterpiece” because of its ingenious compositional technique. Kirill Petrenko combines it with a work that also has a connection to sacred architecture: Wolfgang Rihm’s IN-SCHRIFT, whose dark, powerfully-sculpted sounds are inspired by St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

Kirill Petrenko conducts Bruckner and Rihm

Anton Bruckner’s symphonies have often been described as cathedrals of sound. And they really do combine a powerful architecture of sound with soaring climaxes and visions of the transcendent. This also applies to the Fifth Symphony, which Bruckner called his “contrapuntal masterpiece” because of its ingenious compositional technique. Kirill Petrenko combines it with a work that also has a connection to sacred architecture: Wolfgang Rihm’s IN-SCHRIFT, whose dark, powerfully-sculpted sounds are inspired by St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

Kirill Petrenko conducts Bruckner and Rihm

Anton Bruckner’s symphonies have often been described as cathedrals of sound. And they really do combine a powerful architecture of sound with soaring climaxes and visions of the transcendent. This also applies to the Fifth Symphony, which Bruckner called his “contrapuntal masterpiece” because of its ingenious compositional technique. Kirill Petrenko combines it with a work that also has a connection to sacred architecture: Wolfgang Rihm’s IN-SCHRIFT, whose dark, powerfully-sculpted sounds are inspired by St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

Simon Rattle conducts Bruckner and Widmann

Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony has long been one of the composer’s underrated works. According to Sir Simon Rattle, this is because it doesn’t offer what people usually expect of a Bruckner symphony. It is shorter, more transparent and less solemn than usual, “a piece full of humour and daring”. Bruckner himself seems to have seen it that way, for he whimsically declared the Sixth to be his “boldest”. To open the programme, Simon Rattle conducts the world premiere of a horn concerto written by Jörg Widmann, this season’s Composer-in-Residence, for our principal horn-player Stefan Dohr.

Simon Rattle conducts Bruckner and Widmann

Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony has long been one of the composer’s underrated works. According to Sir Simon Rattle, this is because it doesn’t offer what people usually expect of a Bruckner symphony. It is shorter, more transparent and less solemn than usual, “a piece full of humour and daring”. Bruckner himself seems to have seen it that way, for he whimsically declared the Sixth to be his “boldest”. To open the programme, Simon Rattle conducts the world premiere of a horn concerto written by Jörg Widmann, this season’s Composer-in-Residence, for our principal horn-player Stefan Dohr.

Simon Rattle conducts Bruckner and Widmann

Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony has long been one of the composer’s underrated works. According to Sir Simon Rattle, this is because it doesn’t offer what people usually expect of a Bruckner symphony. It is shorter, more transparent and less solemn than usual, “a piece full of humour and daring”. Bruckner himself seems to have seen it that way, for he whimsically declared the Sixth to be his “boldest”. To open the programme, Simon Rattle conducts the world premiere of a horn concerto written by Jörg Widmann, this season’s Composer-in-Residence, for our principal horn-player Stefan Dohr.

Simone Young conducts Bruckner and Rihm

When Simone Young conducts Bruckner, she prefers to perform the original versions of his symphonies: “Perhaps they are not as perfect as the later versions,” she explains. “But they have a modernity that the later ones lack.” In this concert, she presents the original version of the Second Symphony from 1872, and combines it with Wolfgang Rihm’s one-act opera Das Gehege. This dark and enigmatic piece depicts a woman who, on the eve of German reunification, frees an eagle from captivity, tries to seduce it, and ultimately kills it.