ConcertPulse
Sir Simon Rattle: Gurre-Lieder
Is it an oratorio? Or perhaps a song cycle? A symphony? An opera? Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder does not fit into any category – it barely even fits on a stage: over three hundred performers are required, including the largest orchestra a composer had ever required. In this case, “enormous” does not just denote the size of the performing forces. With its immense sound, Schönberg’s setting of a wild, romantic fairytale poem by Jens Peter Jacobsen can only be described as gigantic, exuberant, and overwhelming, and represents the final peak of late Romanticism (or its glowing swan song). This monumental work has only been performed three times in the history of the BRSO: in 1965 with Rafael Kubelík conducting, in 1988 with Zubin Mehta, and in 2009 with Mariss Jansons (which, incidentally, was the year of the BRSO’s 60th anniversary). Sir Simon Rattle has adored Gurre-Lieder from an early age, and describes it as “sexy, elegant, sensual.” A more fitting work for this gala would be impossible to find. The BRSO is turning 75, Schönberg 150 – and in this case, more is more!