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France and Germany – today, these two countries are best friends. The long-standing rivalry between them has, however, not only led to many a disagreement in politics. Even in the field of organ music, they took different paths for a long time: in France, people celebrated sound and tone colour; in Germany, virtuosity and counterpoint. Karol Mossakowski showcases the best of both worlds: a sedate organ symphony in the style of Widor, sound magic in the style of Fauré and visionary music in the style of Alain – all of them first-rate musical gems. Fauré clad the myth of Pelléas and Mélisande in subtle, highly sensitive sounds, Alain paved the way for the 21st century with his organ music widening the musical horizon. Not for nothing are the moving Litanies on the foundation of human existence some of the most widely played organ works of all for instance. Mendelssohn and Liszt are bywords for the German Romantic school. The variations sérieuses as well as the Mephisto Waltzes had originally been written for piano, but the art of arrangement has a long tradition especially in organ circles. What is not playable will be made playable – that is the motto here. After all, compared with pianists, organists also have two feet and an enormous pool of tonal colours at their disposal. Karol Mossakowski will also make use of this when he pursues another tradition cultivated by organists: improvisation. Here too, he is a true master of his trade.
The concert has been cancelled. Refunds for tickets purchased online will be made automatically. Tickets purchased at NOSPR box offices can be refunded by visiting NOSPR box offices.While Charles-Marie Widor remains best known among organ music aficionados, clarinetists owe to him the Introduction et Rondo – a piece, in which they can show both virtuosity and a lyrical charm. Debussy’s Première rhapsodie, in turn, is a product made to a commission from the Paris Conservatoire: a school piece which exceeded expectations to such a degree that the composer was later happy to arrange in for the clarinet and orchestra. While doing so, he retained the characteristic fogged-up sound, thanks to which the solo instrument cannot be mistaken f other. The young virtuoso Carlos Ferreira finds satisfaction both in his work with the prestigious Orchestre National de France and in chamber music – in a duo with the pianist and composer Pedro Emanuel Pereira, who wrote the suite Duas Igrejas, ringing with the nostalgia of the Portuguese fado, especially for him. On their joint album, we can also find the neoclassical Sonatina by Joseph Horovitz. What else are they going to surprise us with? This we will learn from the concert... Adam Suprynowicz Concert duration: 80 minutes
The Organ Concerto by Francis Poulenc, a classic of the large-scale organ repertoire, is performed by Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna with the Luxembourg Philharmonic under Gustavo Gimeno. The concert also features a new work by Claude Lenners and Ottorino Respighi's "Roman Festivals" and "Pines of Rome".
The two Upper Austrian musicians Karin Bonelli and Christoph Eggner moved to Vienna early on to study. To this day, they call it their musical home, from which they put out feelers to the rest of the world. Whether with chamber ensembles or in an orchestra, music brings them time and again to the world’s greatest concert halls, to exciting places and accompanied by a broad musical repertoire.
"O tell me, who invented this miraculous construction, full of the voices of everything that lives?" Herder asked in his poem "The Organ" – the instrument that "unites the breath of all creation". This concert will see two fascinating performers immerse themselves in the multifaceted universe of organ music: Tobias Lindner, winner of numerous international competitions and professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, will open the concert with a work by an unknown master from his Bavarian homeland. The mid-19th century piece "Elevazione" by Padre Davide da Bergamo is a fresh and tuneful celebration of the liturgical elevation of the host. Bach's trio sonata, composed around 1730, features both intricate fugue techniques and sensuous passages. Opera aficionado Giovanni Morandi created his Campanelli Rondo in 1883, an organ piece that contains not a few surprises. The Hungarian composer Dezsö Antalffy-Zsiross thrilled early 20th-century audiences with his spectacular works, and his "Chanson dans la nuit” contains echoes of early jazz. The programme’s second half will be performed by Jeremy Joseph, a South African organist who has won several prestigious awards. He is currently the chapel organist of the Hofburg in Vienna and also teaches as a professor at the University of Vienna. He will start with a highly virtuosic and sonorous Prelude and Fugue by Bach. Mozart wrote the rondo-like Andante for barrel organ, an enchanting music-box piece full of dainty passages in a high treble register, in 1791, the year of his death. Messiaen’s jubilant final movement of his major 1986 composition "Le Livre du Saint-Sacrement" undoubtedly succeeded in achieving this composer’s goal to create a universal dimension of "music that touches all things and God at the same time".
On 26 February 2023, a special programme on the season's theme of "Creation" will be presented at the Bamberg Concert Hall. The well-known Swiss actor Stefan Kurt will be a guest in the organ series of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. In keeping with Bamberg, he will read "The Story of the Lost Mirror Image" by the well-known Romantic writer E.T.A Hoffmann. With his novellistic works, Hoffmann is considered the most influential German storyteller after Goethe and until the breakthrough of Kafka's works after 1945.For this purpose, the Principal Organist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra has selected early and late masterpieces by composers such as Bach, Mendelssohn, Widor, Brandmüller and Reger, including the well-known Passacaglia by Johann Sebastian Bach and the monumental Fantasy and Fugue in D minor op. 135b by Max Reger.With his leading role in the successful TV multi-part "Der Schattenmann" directed by Dieter Wedel, Stefan Kurt became known to a wide audience and received the Adolf Grimme Award and the Telestar for his acting performance in 1997. This is followed by extensive film and television work. 2020 sees his first collaboration with Barrie Kosky at the Komische Oper Berlin with the operetta "Frühlingsstürme".Christian Schmitt has now been curating the organ series for seven years, with highlights this season including his debut at Carnegie Hall New York under Dennis Russell Davies, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, and in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's organ series.