The Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BRSO) as a guest in the subscription
Keywords: Symphony Concert
| Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks | Orchestra |
| Christian Thielemann | Conductor |
| Symphonie Nr. 5 B-Dur | Anton Bruckner |
These events are similar in terms of concept, place, musicians or the program.
After last season‘s two-concert guest performance at the river Elbe in Hamburg, our orchestra is looking forward to a veritable »residency« with three programmes in the great hall of the Elbphilharmonie – by the way, already our concerts nos. 6 to 8 in this iconic landmark. Ludwig van Beethoven‘s symphonies are the link between the three programmes, each of which aims to retrace the influence of his music on the composers of the Romantic and Modern eras. This is most apparent in Richard Strauss‘s tone poem »Ein Heldenleben«, whose relationship to Beethoven‘s »Eroica« is not only evident in the title, but can also be heard musically as one listens through the work. Strauss himself wrote to his father during the composing process, ironically referring to the »Eroica«, that he was now working on a larger tone poem entitled »Heldenleben« (»Heroic Life«) »to remedy an urgent need, without a funeral march, but still in E-flat major, with lots of horns, which for once are aimed towards heroism«. Beethoven‘s 7th Symphony was soon described as the »apotheosis of dance«, particularly for its wild, dance-like finale. Stravinsky spoke highly of the »constructive power of order« in Beethoven‘s works and once said that he should be revered only for his music: »In the supreme quality of his tone material, not in the nature of his ideas, lies his true greatness«. In »Sacre du Printemps«, Stravinsky elevates the idea of dance to the archaic, the monstrous, and the juxtaposition of the two compositions, tying ritual, dance and movement into symphonic frames, is particularly attractive. Finally, in Hamburg we combine Beethoven's 5th Symphony with his 5th Piano Concerto – two model works by the composer, which in their respective genres both exerted the greatest influence on many of his successors. Our soloist Lukas Sternath in 2022 created a sensation at the International ARD Music Competition – in addition to the 1st prize, he was awarded seven special prizes, including the audience prize and the award for the best interpretation of the commissioned composition.
After last season‘s two-concert guest performance at the river Elbe in Hamburg, our orchestra is looking forward to a veritable »residency« with three programmes in the great hall of the Elbphilharmonie – by the way, already our concerts nos. 6 to 8 in this iconic landmark. Ludwig van Beethoven‘s symphonies are the link between the three programmes, each of which aims to retrace the influence of his music on the composers of the Romantic and Modern eras. This is most apparent in Richard Strauss‘s tone poem »Ein Heldenleben«, whose relationship to Beethoven‘s »Eroica« is not only evident in the title, but can also be heard musically as one listens through the work. Strauss himself wrote to his father during the composing process, ironically referring to the »Eroica«, that he was now working on a larger tone poem entitled »Heldenleben« (»Heroic Life«) »to remedy an urgent need, without a funeral march, but still in E-flat major, with lots of horns, which for once are aimed towards heroism«. Beethoven‘s 7th Symphony was soon described as the »apotheosis of dance«, particularly for its wild, dance-like finale. Stravinsky spoke highly of the »constructive power of order« in Beethoven‘s works and once said that he should be revered only for his music: »In the supreme quality of his tone material, not in the nature of his ideas, lies his true greatness«. In »Sacre du Printemps«, Stravinsky elevates the idea of dance to the archaic, the monstrous, and the juxtaposition of the two compositions, tying ritual, dance and movement into symphonic frames, is particularly attractive. Finally, in Hamburg we combine Beethoven's 5th Symphony with his 5th Piano Concerto – two model works by the composer, which in their respective genres both exerted the greatest influence on many of his successors. Our soloist Lukas Sternath in 2022 created a sensation at the International ARD Music Competition – in addition to the 1st prize, he was awarded seven special prizes, including the audience prize and the award for the best interpretation of the commissioned composition.
After last season‘s two-concert guest performance at the river Elbe in Hamburg, our orchestra is looking forward to a veritable »residency« with three programmes in the great hall of the Elbphilharmonie – by the way, already our concerts nos. 6 to 8 in this iconic landmark. Ludwig van Beethoven‘s symphonies are the link between the three programmes, each of which aims to retrace the influence of his music on the composers of the Romantic and Modern eras. This is most apparent in Richard Strauss‘s tone poem »Ein Heldenleben«, whose relationship to Beethoven‘s »Eroica« is not only evident in the title, but can also be heard musically as one listens through the work. Strauss himself wrote to his father during the composing process, ironically referring to the »Eroica«, that he was now working on a larger tone poem entitled »Heldenleben« (»Heroic Life«) »to remedy an urgent need, without a funeral march, but still in E-flat major, with lots of horns, which for once are aimed towards heroism«. Beethoven‘s 7th Symphony was soon described as the »apotheosis of dance«, particularly for its wild, dance-like finale. Stravinsky spoke highly of the »constructive power of order« in Beethoven‘s works and once said that he should be revered only for his music: »In the supreme quality of his tone material, not in the nature of his ideas, lies his true greatness«. In »Sacre du Printemps«, Stravinsky elevates the idea of dance to the archaic, the monstrous, and the juxtaposition of the two compositions, tying ritual, dance and movement into symphonic frames, is particularly attractive. Finally, in Hamburg we combine Beethoven's 5th Symphony with his 5th Piano Concerto – two model works by the composer, which in their respective genres both exerted the greatest influence on many of his successors. Our soloist Lukas Sternath in 2022 created a sensation at the International ARD Music Competition – in addition to the 1st prize, he was awarded seven special prizes, including the audience prize and the award for the best interpretation of the commissioned composition.
E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote that "Haydn and Mozart, the creators of the newer instrumental music, first showed us art in its full glory; but Beethoven is the one who looked at it with a gaze full of love and penetrated its innermost essence.” András Schiff features in this concert as both conductor and pianist, performing works inspired by very different places and ideas. Our musical journey will start with one of Haydn’s "London Symphonies”, named for the British capital even though Haydn did not in fact compose it there. Rather, he travelled to England with the score of the E flat major Symphony in his luggage, ready to be premiered shortly after his arrival in 1794. One critic praised its “ideas, as new in music as they are grand and impressive”. Our programme also features Beethoven’s popular Fifth Piano Concerto. It was composed in 1809, when Vienna was being bombarded by French troops. In the English-speaking world, the concerto is known as "Emperor” because of its thundering, martial tone. But its rich trove of complex emotions is equally fascinating – Beethoven is said to have had "the religious songs of pious pilgrims" in mind when composing the Adagio. In addition to these two masterpieces, our orchestra will perform a work that draws on the music of earlier times: the folk music of his native region was an important source of inspiration for Bartók, and his ravishing dance suite is "a kind of ideally conceived peasant music". He wrote it in 1923 for the 50th anniversary of the unification of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest to form the new capital city of Budapest. In doing so, Bartók looked beyond the borders of Hungary, weaving Romanian, Slovakian and even Arabic influences into his work. After all, his goal was to “create a new spirit in music – from musical forces sprung from the earth itself!”This project was originally planned for December 2020 but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic – we are thrilled that the great artist Andràs Schiff is now finally able to join us in Bamberg!
E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote that "Haydn and Mozart, the creators of the newer instrumental music, first showed us art in its full glory; but Beethoven is the one who looked at it with a gaze full of love and penetrated its innermost essence.” András Schiff features in this concert as both conductor and pianist, performing works inspired by very different places and ideas. Our musical journey will start with one of Haydn’s "London Symphonies”, named for the British capital even though Haydn did not in fact compose it there. Rather, he travelled to England with the score of the E flat major Symphony in his luggage, ready to be premiered shortly after his arrival in 1794. One critic praised its “ideas, as new in music as they are grand and impressive”. Our programme also features Beethoven’s popular Fifth Piano Concerto. It was composed in 1809, when Vienna was being bombarded by French troops. In the English-speaking world, the concerto is known as "Emperor” because of its thundering, martial tone. But its rich trove of complex emotions is equally fascinating – Beethoven is said to have had "the religious songs of pious pilgrims" in mind when composing the Adagio. In addition to these two masterpieces, our orchestra will perform a work that draws on the music of earlier times: the folk music of his native region was an important source of inspiration for Bartók, and his ravishing dance suite is "a kind of ideally conceived peasant music". He wrote it in 1923 for the 50th anniversary of the unification of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest to form the new capital city of Budapest. In doing so, Bartók looked beyond the borders of Hungary, weaving Romanian, Slovakian and even Arabic influences into his work. After all, his goal was to “create a new spirit in music – from musical forces sprung from the earth itself!”This project was originally planned for December 2020 but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic – we are thrilled that the great artist Andràs Schiff is now finally able to join us in Bamberg!
Ludwig van Beethoven: genius, freethinker and troubled soul – as well as a master of coping with crises through music. In 1809, he lamented: »We have experienced a rather crowded misery. The entire course of events has affected my body and soul. What a destructive, desolate life around me! Nothing but drums, cannons, all kinds of human misery!« At that time, he was greatly distressed by the current situation, as Vienna was occupied by Napoleon's troops. Food shortages, the black market and inflation were making life difficult for the people. Beethoven often sought shelter in the cellar – and put pillows over his head to avoid hearing the noise. But despite these unfavourable conditions, he wrote his great Fifth Piano Concerto: a gigantic work that gives the impression as if he wanted to drown out the chaos of war with the power and splendour of his music. For long segments, it spreads a belligerent sound – but with the Adagio, a very contemplative movement is interwoven: Beethoven is said to have been thinking of the »chants of devout pilgrims«. These fragmented states of mind are already pervasive in his Fifth Symphony, which was premiered a year earlier and can certainly be understood as a statement on the political fate of Europe at that time. With its famous obsessive motif, the work is at first full of anxiety and emotional complexity over long stretches. But an astounding inner force is able to find its way out of the initial darkness and into the ever brightening light. Like Beethoven wrote in one of his conversation books, which he used because of his deafness and in which he also collected essential ideas: »With music I have transformed my suffering into hope«.
»Music is love‘s soul, for it is the touching of the divine with the human.« These were the thoughts of Bettina von Arnim – and in our concert conducted by Andrew Manze we indulge in such deep soundscapes as Respighi‘s »Concerto Gregoriano« from 1921: it conjures up a religiously solemn world of the middle ages – inspired by his preoccupation with the honorable church modes and meditative melodies of Gregorian chant, which had seized him »like an addiction« at the time. The violin concerto is therefore largely a lyrical-contemplative composition and quotes the Easter sequence »victimae paschali laudes« in the middle movement – but in the end it soars hymn-like with echoes of the famous »Salve Regina« chant like a fervent profession of faith. One critic characterised the violin part as that of »a cantor in an ancient religious ceremony, with the orchestra personifying the choir of the believers«. With us, Frank Peter Zimmermann will assume the role of solo choir leader with his Stradivarius. What follows is a journey into the Bruckner cosmos: his creative work was inseparably intertwined with religious sentiments, which earned him the nickname »Musician of God«. Before he had dared to approach symphonies, he had already made a name for himself as an eminent organist and church composer. After several dissatisfactory attempts, he composed his first definitive symphony in Linz in 1865/66 – which, however, he reworked in Vienna in 1891 on the basis of the experience he had gathered thereafter: it captivates the listener with its natural originality, grandiose themes and climax after climax – and in addition offers deep insights into Bruckner‘s state of mind in the heartfelt Adagio.
Mozartfest Würzburg
Mozartfest Würzburg
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