Friday, August 29, 2025
Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, Berlin
The beginning of a new season, at least as far as the DCH is concerned, and prior to a tour, the BP and KP opened with the first number of Schumann’s music for Byron’s Manfred, the great Overture – here suspenseful, passionate, romantically flexible, a story to be told, and a fine example of the art of thorough preparation sounding spontaneous in performance. Petrenko, somewhat fickle with how the strings are seated, opted for antiphonal violins, cellos centre-left, eight basses behind, also a boon in Brahms One, a powerful account, the first movement, following a weighty introduction, zesty and lyrically expressive, arguably too disjunct (wise therefore to omit the exposition repeat), charging along if with diversions, then an Andante that ever-so-slightly dragged, the intermezzo-like successor shapely and, middle section, thrusting, leaving the Finale, entering attacca, contrabassoon highlighted, to be momentous, although flaccid moments were not always comfortable within the energised pursuit of triumph, here reached with a further dislocation of pulse, if wonderfully played.
As centrepiece, Zimmermann’s oboe concerto (premiered October 1952 by Horst Schneider, Hans Rosbaud conducting). The orchestra may be small, but it’s colourful – celesta, harp, piano, a modicum of woodwinds and brass (including a tuba) and a soupcon of strings and percussion (with timpani) – three short movements, busy and spiky in the first, then mysterious if volatile, and finally rhythmically vital. A rewarding piece, the solo part is packed with notes, and decoration, brilliantly negotiated by Albrecht Mayer, who encored with a movement from Bach’s Cantata, Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, essentially a sublime duet with concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley.