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Among the many wonderful concerts this season, there is one that Sir Simon Rattle would particularly like to attend himself: Stravinsky and Mendelssohn, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. The BRSO Chief Conductor has long admired Blomstedt (who has reached the impressive age of 97): “He’s like a splendid wine that only gets better with age,” says Rattle. “The last time I heard Lobgesang I was in my teens and still a mediocre timpani player. And although I couldn’t grasp its quality back then, I am convinced that Mr. Blomstedt will reveal the magnificence of this work – as he always does.” Hardly anyone conducts with such understanding and such humility. “He is such an inspiration!”
Among the many wonderful concerts this season, there is one that Sir Simon Rattle would particularly like to attend himself: Stravinsky and Mendelssohn, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. The BRSO Chief Conductor has long admired Blomstedt (who has reached the impressive age of 97): “He’s like a splendid wine that only gets better with age,” says Rattle. “The last time I heard Lobgesang I was in my teens and still a mediocre timpani player. And although I couldn’t grasp its quality back then, I am convinced that Mr. Blomstedt will reveal the magnificence of this work – as he always does.” Hardly anyone conducts with such understanding and such humility. “He is such an inspiration!”
In the figure of Elijah, Mendelssohn sought to portray a prophet who was “strong and zealous, but also evil, irate and sinister”. Elijah was meant to be a flesh-and-blood human being who undergoes a radical conversion and reaches the limits of human existence. He takes the form of a militant fanatic, a resigned sceptic and finally a man of divine inspiration. The oratorio, with its protean hero, is pervaded by an unrelenting arc of tension in which Mendelssohn creates spectacular scenes of almost visceral theatricality. Listeners are virtually thrust into its various episodes – the famine, the miracles of fire and rain, the enraged masses or the prophet’s final ascension to heaven.
In the figure of Elijah, Mendelssohn sought to portray a prophet who was “strong and zealous, but also evil, irate and sinister”. Elijah was meant to be a flesh-and-blood human being who undergoes a radical conversion and reaches the limits of human existence. He takes the form of a militant fanatic, a resigned sceptic and finally a man of divine inspiration. The oratorio, with its protean hero, is pervaded by an unrelenting arc of tension in which Mendelssohn creates spectacular scenes of almost visceral theatricality. Listeners are virtually thrust into its various episodes – the famine, the miracles of fire and rain, the enraged masses or the prophet’s final ascension to heaven.
Among conductors, Giovanni Antonini continues to number among the “savages” who use ultra-brisk tempos to breathe unparalleled passion and vivacity into the music of bygone eras. In the meantime he no longer specialises in Baroque music, but increasingly devotes himself to the Classical and early Romantic periods. Between Mozart’s “Little” G minor Symphony and Haydn’s “Drumroll” Symphony (written for London), the soprano Lydia Teuscher will sing three famous concert arias by Mozart and Mendelssohn. The Mozart arias were originally inserted into comic operas by other composers; today they can be heard in concert as precious gems in their own right. Mendelssohn composed his aria of love and vengeance for Maria Malibran, placing at her side a poignant violin solo to be played by the virtuoso Charles-Auguste de Bériot, her lover at the time and later her husband.
The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv has recently drawn much attention and acclaim. Now she will head the BRSO for the first time. For her début she has chosen Mozart’s E-flat major Sinfonie concertante for violin and viola (K. 364) – a grand, moving dialogue between two string instruments, played by Jehye Lee (leader of the seconds) and Tobias Reifland (solo violist) and accompanied by the exquisite Mozart sound of their orchestra. Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony, with its riveting Italianate flair, conveys a high-spirited, effervescent joi de vivre, mingled in the second movement by a pensive orchestral “song without words” on Es war ein König in Thule. A third movement with romantic horn passages is followed by the madcap finale, a swirling saltarello again firmly rooted in Italy.