Keywords: Subscription Concert
| Sir Simon Rattle | Conductor |
| Bavarian Radio Chorus | |
| Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks |
| “Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna” | Pierre Boulez |
| “Figure humaine” for double choir | Francis Poulenc |
| “Daphnis et Chloé” Ballet for choir and orchestra | Maurice Ravel |
These events are similar in terms of concept, place, musicians or the program.
Simon Rattle felt no hesitation in commencing his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Chor and Symphonieorchester des BR with Haydn’s Creation. “It contains everything. The whole world. It looks both towards the past and far into the future of everything music can be. It is balance and revolution at the same time, a true work of the Enlightenment.” Magnificent choruses, graceful melodies, the finest polyphony, all firmly anchored in an optimistic view of humanity: “Anyone who doesn’t automatically feel better after hearing it really needs help,“ Simon Rattle says with a wink.” The Creation is healthy in a very honest way.” But health also includes a good dose of humor, and Haydn provides it, even in a setting as sacred as the Creation story. At the same time, a work radiating light also casts some shadows on our own present. What has remained of the spirit of the Enlightenment? And what have we done with the “world, so great, so wonderful”?
Simon Rattle felt no hesitation in commencing his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Chor and Symphonieorchester des BR with Haydn’s Creation. “It contains everything. The whole world. It looks both towards the past and far into the future of everything music can be. It is balance and revolution at the same time, a true work of the Enlightenment.” Magnificent choruses, graceful melodies, the finest polyphony, all firmly anchored in an optimistic view of humanity: “Anyone who doesn’t automatically feel better after hearing it really needs help,“ Simon Rattle says with a wink.” The Creation is healthy in a very honest way.” But health also includes a good dose of humor, and Haydn provides it, even in a setting as sacred as the Creation story. At the same time, a work radiating light also casts some shadows on our own present. What has remained of the spirit of the Enlightenment? And what have we done with the “world, so great, so wonderful”?
Simon Rattle felt no hesitation in commencing his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Chor and Symphonieorchester des BR with Haydn’s Creation. “It contains everything. The whole world. It looks both towards the past and far into the future of everything music can be. It is balance and revolution at the same time, a true work of the Enlightenment.” Magnificent choruses, graceful melodies, the finest polyphony, all firmly anchored in an optimistic view of humanity: “Anyone who doesn’t automatically feel better after hearing it really needs help,“ Simon Rattle says with a wink.” The Creation is healthy in a very honest way.” But health also includes a good dose of humor, and Haydn provides it, even in a setting as sacred as the Creation story. At the same time, a work radiating light also casts some shadows on our own present. What has remained of the spirit of the Enlightenment? And what have we done with the “world, so great, so wonderful”?
For his second concert as the new Chief Conductor of the BRSO, Simon Rattle has also chosen a piece that is very dear to him: Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. He once said in an interview that Haydn and Mahler were the two composers for whom he needed no translation; they had come to live with him. Similar to Haydn’s Creation, Mahler’s music is about the whole world – but a world that, only 100 years later, is already showing traces of considerable degradation. Mahler, especially in his Sixth Symphony and its devastating final movement, heralds the totality of human experience in the modern age. It is a work that Rattle considers an “icon,” and with his performance he joins the great Mahler tradition of the BRSO and its former chief conductors. Simon Rattle was already enthusiastic about the music of Betsy Jolas as a student, saying it was “like a late summer day, like a premium wine, full of character and color.” It was only much later that he got to know the French-American composer personally. The new piece by the 97-year-old, who for him remains youthfully wise, will “blend wonderfully with Mahler’s wild, timeless Sixth.”
For his second concert as the new Chief Conductor of the BRSO, Simon Rattle has also chosen a piece that is very dear to him: Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. He once said in an interview that Haydn and Mahler were the two composers for whom he needed no translation; they had come to live with him. Similar to Haydn’s Creation, Mahler’s music is about the whole world – but a world that, only 100 years later, is already showing traces of considerable degradation. Mahler, especially in his Sixth Symphony and its devastating final movement, heralds the totality of human experience in the modern age. It is a work that Rattle considers an “icon,” and with his performance he joins the great Mahler tradition of the BRSO and its former chief conductors. Simon Rattle was already enthusiastic about the music of Betsy Jolas as a student, saying it was “like a late summer day, like a premium wine, full of character and color.” It was only much later that he got to know the French-American composer personally. The new piece by the 97-year-old, who for him remains youthfully wise, will “blend wonderfully with Mahler’s wild, timeless Sixth.”
For his second concert as the new Chief Conductor of the BRSO, Simon Rattle has also chosen a piece that is very dear to him: Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. He once said in an interview that Haydn and Mahler were the two composers for whom he needed no translation; they had come to live with him. Similar to Haydn’s Creation, Mahler’s music is about the whole world – but a world that, only 100 years later, is already showing traces of considerable degradation. Mahler, especially in his Sixth Symphony and its devastating final movement, heralds the totality of human experience in the modern age. It is a work that Rattle considers an “icon,” and with his performance he joins the great Mahler tradition of the BRSO and its former chief conductors. Simon Rattle was already enthusiastic about the music of Betsy Jolas as a student, saying it was “like a late summer day, like a premium wine, full of character and color.” It was only much later that he got to know the French-American composer personally. The new piece by the 97-year-old, who for him remains youthfully wise, will “blend wonderfully with Mahler’s wild, timeless Sixth.”
The French repertoire occupies a prominent place among Simon Rattle’s many musical preferences. In 2010, he was awarded the Order of Knight of the French Legion of Honor for his groundbreaking performances of works by French composers. In addition to its fascinating sound world, this music is also ideally suited for an orchestra to work on, because it allows the ensemble to elicit completely different colors and attain a distinctive virtuosity. Alongside well-known classics, the BRSO will perform an absolute novelty: Les Bandar-Log (Hindi for “great apes”) from Charles Koechlin’s setting of The Jungle Book: the episode of the anarchic troop of monkeys that have captured Mowgli provides the composer with a model for a wild potpourri of sounds and stylistic devices. It is beguiling how calm and luminous the music becomes once the rowdy gang has been successfully driven away.
The French repertoire occupies a prominent place among Simon Rattle’s many musical preferences. In 2010, he was awarded the Order of Knight of the French Legion of Honor for his groundbreaking performances of works by French composers. In addition to its fascinating sound world, this music is also ideally suited for an orchestra to work on, because it allows the ensemble to elicit completely different colors and attain a distinctive virtuosity. Alongside well-known classics, the BRSO will perform an absolute novelty: Les Bandar-Log (Hindi for “great apes”) from Charles Koechlin’s setting of The Jungle Book: the episode of the anarchic troop of monkeys that have captured Mowgli provides the composer with a model for a wild potpourri of sounds and stylistic devices. It is beguiling how calm and luminous the music becomes once the rowdy gang has been successfully driven away.
A cleverly woven programme in which demise comes first: Sir Simon Rattle begins by letting Tristan and Isolde “lament, drown, and sink” in their “swelling, welling, resounding, flowing, urgent, vibrant” yearning for love. However, this sensation that has been transposed into music by Wagner along with its obsessive tragedy finally dissolves into the peaceful, contemplative atmosphere of birdsong, the babbling of a brook, footsteps, and a cleansing thunderstorm: Beethoven’s Pastoral transforms the walk of a city dweller in nature into an onomatopoeic experience and is thus decidedly reminiscent of Rattle’s inaugural concert as Chief Conductor that featured Haydn’s Creation. Between breathtaking harmonies and an intimate finale lies a substantial new orchestral work by Thomas Adès, composed for the 75th anniversary of the BRSO. Greatness in every respect.
A cleverly woven programme in which demise comes first: Sir Simon Rattle begins by letting Tristan and Isolde “lament, drown, and sink” in their “swelling, welling, resounding, flowing, urgent, vibrant” yearning for love. However, this sensation that has been transposed into music by Wagner along with its obsessive tragedy finally dissolves into the peaceful, contemplative atmosphere of birdsong, the babbling of a brook, footsteps, and a cleansing thunderstorm: Beethoven’s Pastoral transforms the walk of a city dweller in nature into an onomatopoeic experience and is thus decidedly reminiscent of Rattle’s inaugural concert as Chief Conductor that featured Haydn’s Creation. Between breathtaking harmonies and an intimate finale lies a substantial new orchestral work by Thomas Adès, composed for the 75th anniversary of the BRSO. Greatness in every respect.
ConcertPulse