ConcertPulse
VESSELS OF LIGHT
Konzerthaus Berlin, Großer Saal (Berlin)
The music of the composer Charles Ives, who was influenced by transcendentalism, reflects the fact that he saw life and spirituality under the sign of endless questions - “The Unanswered Question” from 1906/07 already bears his attitude in its title and resolves it musically. Lera Auerbach's Symphony No. 6 was commissioned for the 70th anniversary of the International Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in 2024. Auerbach dedicates her work entitled “Vessels of Light” to the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who saved thousands of Jewish people by issuing visas during the Second World War, including the father-in-law of cello soloist Kristina Reiko Cooper. The Kabbalistic tale of the “breaking of the vessels” at the creation of the world, the appreciative art of Japanese Kintsugi, which uses lacquer and gold powder to save broken porcelain or ceramics, and the quiet words of the biblical Psalm 121 are woven by the composer into a tapestry of words and music.
