ConcertPulse
Beethoven Symphony No.9 with Marie Jacquot
Wiener Konzerthaus, Great Hall (Wien)
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»Wherever you go, go with all your heart.« True to this saying, we are travelling on winding paths again – after all, we are Bavaria’s cultural ambassadors in the world. It gives us great pleasure to be touring across Europe to distribute musical calling cards from our wide-ranging repertoire to audiences elsewhere – who may well be curious. Jakub Hrůša once said that he loves it when people »really come with an open heart and are open to experiencing something completely new – and then relate it to what they already know«. At the request of the exceptionally gifted pianist Daniil Trifonov, this time the tour takes us to numerous places in Central Europe, to concert halls that we haven't performed in for a long time. In our suitcases we bring those exciting works that we have presented to our esteemed Bamberg audience for a long time – and although we are now travelling around for a while, we will of course always return to our beloved »home port« on the Regnitz later on.
Daniel Harding will perform Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto together with Leif Ove Andsnes. Composed in 1809 during the Napoleonic occupation of Vienna, its expansive structure exudes a longing for peace and humanity. Instead of the planned Sinfonia domestica, the second part features two of Richard Strauss’ most popular tone poems, Death and Transfiguration and Don Juan, with which the young composer finally embarked on the path to becoming a “musician of the future”. Strauss established his fame as the leading opera composer of his time a few years later with Salome. The culmination of this ground-breaking work is Salome’s lascivious Dance of the Seven Veils – a dramaturgical and tonal fascination to this day.
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.
