Live concerts

Photo: Kaupo Kikkas

Witold Lutosławski’s captivating Concerto for Orchestra combines the acerbic power of traditional Polish folk music with ingenious, pioneering construction. A charming contrast is formed by Johannes Brahms’ joyous Second Symphony, written during a holiday at the Wörthersee in which, according to the composer, “The melodies fly so thick here that you have to be careful not to step on one”. The conductor for this concert is Paavo Järvi.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Gustav Mahler described his Fifth Symphony as a “cursed work” that “no-one understands”. While the extreme variety of expression actually overwhelmed the audience at the time, the symphony enjoys the highest popularity today, especially thanks to its gossamer-like Adagietto movement. Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, also conducts Leonard Bernstein’s cheeky occasional piece, Divertimento, which – here in Europe at least – is far too rarely heard.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

In 1944, at the age of just 25, Leonard Bernstein conducted the first performance of his First Symphony, a work based on the Old Testament lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah and which demonstrates astonishing musical and intellectual maturity. The same expressive intensity characterises Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, which dates from the same time, but from a completely different sound world. The conductor of this exciting juxtaposition is Gustavo Dudamel.

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Music based on three colourful Russian fairytales are to be heard in this concert with Valerie Gergiev: the bloodthirsty story of The Golden Cockerel set to music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, excerpts from Prokofiev’s humorous and charming ballet Cinderella, and from Stravinsky, his iridescent, energetic Firebird. The concert opens with another magical, but very different work: Debussy’s Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony is a work which exceeds all limits. The composition was intended to depict nothing less than the entire universe: the lofty and the humble, tradition and avant-garde, pastoral serenity and demonic grotesques, songs and chorales, and death and resurrection, all expressed in music that is correspondingly multifarious and grandiose. It is conducted here by Andris Nelsons, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

Photo: Gregor Hohenberg

The lieder of Hugo Wolf are unique in their clear-cut directness. Their aim is not the artistic sublimation of emotions, but real, unfiltered expression. Christian Gerhaher, the “foremost lieder singer of our time” (The New York Times), performs selected settings by Wolf of Goethe and Mörike. Conductor Iván Fischer also presents Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, with its shifts between the idyllic and the abyss.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

The conductor of this New Year’s Eve concert is Daniel Barenboim, one of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s oldest friends. He also takes on the role of soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26 – a work of sparkling beauty and nuanced expression. There are also four famous works by Maurice Ravel, which create an impressive synthesis of elegance and originality. The final highlight is the Boléro, perhaps the most stunning crescendo in music history.

Photo: Patrice Nin

Photo: Martin Walz

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Photo: Felix Broede

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Photo: Thomas Brill

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Photo: Holger Kettner