Raphael Haeger: a portrait
Percussionists have a special status in the orchestra – if only because many of them have their musical roots in jazz and rock music. But most of all because they have to master not just one instrument, but a whole arsenal – from vibraphone to castanets. All this is told in this portrait from the series The Berliner Philharmoniker and their Instruments of Raphael Haeger, who has been a percussionist with the orchestra since 2004.
Raphael Haeger, a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2004, says that percussionists often find themselves outsiders in the symphonic orchestra. And indeed: the career of these musicians is often different from their colleagues, with origins in jazz and rock music. And unlike timpanists, percussionists were not included in most works of the Classical-Romantic repertoire. In order to allow himself a more intensive exploration of this music, Haeger has additionally undergone training as a conductor. In his main job, we learn that the numerous instruments of his profession can be divided into two categories and why, unlike the piano, one cannot play the marimba, vibra or xylophones with closed eyes. Haeger not only deals with sounds but also with language in a confident and experimental way as can be seen again and again in this film in the series The Berliner Philharmoniker and their Instruments, such as when he compares the notes of his various instruments in the overall sound of the orchestra to the “white sea spray” which rests on top of waves.
A film by Torben Jacobsen (2019)
Raphael Haeger
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