Visiting Orchestras
Symphonieorch. des Bayer. Rundfunks / Mariss Jansons
Past Dates
Mariss Jansons has won wide acclaim with the Concertgebouworkest at the musikfest berlin over the last two years and is celebrated for his grandiose interpretations of Mahler at the Berliner Philharmoniker. This year he will be in Berlin as the head conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, one of the world’s top orchestras, which won a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance in 2006. Together with the soloist Sergei Leiferkus, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks offers audiences an unusual programme. Claude Debussy’s La Mer combines elusive sounds which appear as shining reflections of light with passages of threatening frenzy and majestic impetus. In the process, the piece develops in a manner which can be perceived as both unconstrained yet consistent. Debussy found a model for this style of composition, in which the individual components are connected by a “mysterious thread”, in Modest Mussorgsky. Mussorgsky also had a profound influence on Shostakovich; the title of the grim and dramatically vivid Songs and Dances of Death could serve as the motto for all of Shostakovich’s work. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 is a stirring work marked by a deep sense of doubt, bitter irony and aggressive, forward-pressing motion. In one of the most nightmarish finales of the symphonic canon, an initially optimistic tone turns into seemingly forced, hysterical euphoria.
Concert Programme
Claude Debussy [1862-1918]
La Mer – three symphonic sketches for orchestra [1903-05]
Modest Mussorgsky [1839-1881]
Songs and Dances of Death [1875/77]
arranged for orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich [1962]
Dmitri Shostakovich [1906-1975]
Symphony No. 5 in D minor op. 47 [1937]