ConcertPulse
Symphoniker Hamburg / Diana Adamyan / Sylvain Cambreling
Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)
The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, also known as the Symphoniker Hamburg, is a German orchestra based in Hamburg. It was founded in 1957.
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The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, also known as the Symphoniker Hamburg, is a German orchestra based in Hamburg. It was founded in 1957.
»Grief and prayer, fear and hopeful confidence, they speak a more passionate and individual language here than we are used to hearing in church«, wrote the music critic Eduard Hanslick about Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in 1875. In fact, there is so much drama in the work that the Catholic Church initially protested against performances – it was far too secular. Together with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the opulent work will be sung by the EuropaChorAkademie, a talent factory for the best young singers from all over Europe.
Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera "Alceste" deeply impressed the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Years later, Mozart completed a symphonic trio. Franz Liszt, inspired by a drawing, revisited his symphonic poem form two decades later. Richard Wagner's "Tristan" prelude encapsulates the struggle of hopeless love.
In 1829, 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn sketched the Hebrides Overture while in Scotland. Years later, it premiered in London after revisions. Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto, influenced by Alban Berg, premiered in New York in 1940 after revisions. Beethoven's Second Symphony, despite being composed during a difficult period, is surprisingly bright and unconventional, challenging traditional forms.
Toru Takemitsu's "Signals from Heaven" (1987) for wind ensemble evokes a dialogue reminiscent of Venetian church music, drawing inspiration from nature and Duke Ellington. A Divertimento, attributed to Mozart but actually containing works by Starzer and Gluck, inspired Dvorak's Serenade in D minor after his 1877 Vienna visit. Composed in just two weeks, the Serenade premiered in 1878 to great acclaim. Rodion Shchedrin's popular Carmen Suite (1967), based on Bizet's opera, was written for his wife, Bolshoi ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, after Shostakovich and Khachaturian declined. She performed the role over 350 times, even at age 65.
»That was my first work played by an orchestra and my first contact with a large audience. I was 22 years old at the time,« reports Olivier Messiaen. Les offrandes oubliées (The Forgotten Offerings) was composed in 1930 and premiered on 19 February 1931 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by the Orchestre des concerts Straram under the direction of its chief and namesake Walther Straram. The »symphonic meditation« (the subtitle) is based on linguistically tangible yet abstract ideas. The texts were written by Messiaen himself. The themes of the three verses (Cross – Sin – Eucharist) can be understood as situations of contemplation, descent and rapture and form the three sections of the work.
From canyons to stars, Olivier Messiaen's composition, commissioned by Alice Tully for the US bicentennial, celebrates God's creations. Inspired by Utah's landscapes and birdsong, the piece blends nature's beauty with Messiaen's theological vision, incorporating birdsong from various regions. His longest work, it projects earthly beauty into a transcendental dimension, linking it with biblical names given to Utah locations by Mormons.