Sir Simon Rattle and Janine Jansen

Sergei Prokofiev became known as a representative of Russian Modernism while still a student in the 1910s. Shortly afterwards, however, he demonstrated his mastery of composing in traditional genres. The year 1917 was particularly productive in this regard, with Prokofiev completing the Symphonie classique and his First Violin Concerto, among other works. While the “classical” symphony adapts Haydn’s wit for the 20th century, the First Violin Concerto is more reminiscent of the emotionality and virtuosity of Romanticism – although Prokofiev’s own tone is unmistakable at every moment. In doing so, the composer reverses the conventional fast-slow-fast dramaturgy of the solo concerto. In his work, the outer movements frame a rapid, pulsating scherzo. The beautiful main theme of the first movement takes on an almost trance-like quality in the recapitulation, accompanied by the solo instrument's figurations at dizzying heights. Janine Jansen, who is making her first appearance here as Artist in Residence with the Philharmoniker, describes the violin concerto as “a Romantic, dreamy piece, but at the same time daring and virtuosic – a masterpiece”.

The title of John Adams’s orchestral work Harmonielehre, premiered in 1985, is a critical reference to Arnold Schoenberg’s book of the same name, published in 1911. Adams studied twelve-tone music extensively before deciding to stick to tonality in his own works. In an interview with the Digital Concert Hall, the Berliner Philharmoniker’s then Composer in Residence vividly described his intention in Harmonielehre to put “the gestures and harmonies of the fin de siècle through the box of minimalism”.  In this style of composition, the moments when the persistently repeated rhythmical and motivic cells suddenly give way to a new event are overwhelmingly effective.

During his residency in 2016/17, the American composer conducted Harmonielehre himself with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Now, 40 years after its creation, the masterpiece returns to the orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.

Berliner Philharmoniker

Sir Simon Rattle

Janine Jansen