Chin Dutilleux Seltenreich Ben-Haim

Chin Dutilleux Seltenreich Ben-Haim

Lahav Shani conducts Ben-Haim and Bruckner

Recording & Broadcast BR-KLASSIKIt‘s a great mystery what and where the soul is exactly: whether it is immaterial or somehow palpable or a measurable energy – yet researchers have said to have found out that its weight is 21 grams. Opinions differ widely across humanity. However, many agree that this precious essence plays an important role. This season, we want to tie in Anton Bruckner‘s symphonies with other compositions which, in their own way, have a soul-related, and sometimes spiritual, content. In this concert, Lahav Shani, winner of our MAHLER COMPETITION in 2013 and the new principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, will conduct the world premiere of a work written by the Baku-born composer Frangis Ali-Sade, who once said: »Every time, music helps me to chase away the problems of life.« Paul Ben-Haim‘s violin concerto is also worth discovering: his scintillating works combine European, Israeli and Arab traditions – because the artist, born as Paul Frankenberger in Munich, fled to Palestine in 1933. The violin concerto from 1960, which at times sounds like film music, turns out to be very stirring, but also exudes a wonderfully soulful tranquillity at times. At the end, Bruckner‘s Seventh Symphony, with which he finally achieved the longed-for breakthrough as a recognised composer in 1884. It captivates with masterly intensifications and heartfelt moments such as in the stirring Adagio – and is one of those confessional works about which it was said that in them there appeared »a changing radiance of a spiritual kind«.

Aschaffenburg

The concert at Aschaffenburg's Stadthalle has been cancelled due to a complete failure of the air conditioning system. The hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt and conductor Alain Altinoglu will perform Beethoven and Mahler, including Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with soprano solo, and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring pianist Seong-Jin Cho.

Festival International de Colmar

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Alain Altinoglu, will conclude their season with three concerts at the Festival International de Colmar. Altinoglu, who assumed artistic direction of the festival this year, will present works by Beethoven, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Ravel, Khachaturian, Mozart, and Strauss, featuring soloists Alexandre Kantorow (piano), Sergey Khachatryan (violin), and François Leleux (oboe).

Festival International de Colmar

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Alain Altinoglu, will conclude their season with three concerts at the Festival International de Colmar. Altinoglu, who assumed artistic direction of the festival this year, will present works by Beethoven, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Ravel, Khachaturian, Mozart, and Strauss, featuring soloists Alexandre Kantorow (piano), Sergey Khachatryan (violin), and François Leleux (oboe).

Europakonzert Riccardo Muti and the Berliner Philharmoniker in Bari

With its brick-red façade, a gleaming white entrance area and a magnificent red and gold auditorium, the venue for this year’s European Concert, Bari’s Teatro Petruzzelli, is an architectural jewel. Under the direction of Riccardo Muti, the Berliner Philharmoniker will present a mixed programme of Italian and German music. Rossini’s rousing William Tell Overture and the atmospheric ballet music from Verdi’s opera The Sicilian Vespers exude Italianità. Completing the programme, the dusky mixture of yearning and consolation in Brahms’ Second Symphony make the work a seminal example of late German Romanticism.

Guest performance Shanghai

Guest performance Tbilisi, Georgia

Guest performance Künzelsau

Guest performance Kirill Petrenko with Mahler’s Ninth

The Ninth Symphony is Gustav Mahler’s last completed work – an expressive farewell and at the same time a visionary anticipation of musical modernism. Since Mahler did not live to see the premiere of his Ninth, he could not complete his customary final revisions of the instrumental balance. “This provides a special challenge for all those who interpret this musical testament when examining the musical text,” says Kirill Petrenko. He is joined in this delicate task by the Berliner Philharmoniker.