Saturday, January 11, 2025
Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, Berlin
The short-lived Lili Boulanger’s impression of a Spring Morning and the dawn-like opening to Mahler’s First Symphony worked well together, the former sunny and breezy, if with the occasional shadow, otherwise buoyant, whereas the Mahler is Nature-related, onomatopoeic, folksy, surreal, tempestuous, and ultimately triumphant, and in which Tugan Sokhiev wasn’t to be rushed in suggesting the light of a new day, the first movement (repeat observed) notable for details, dynamics, perspectives, and increasing exuberance, followed by an ideally heavy-footed Scherzo and languorous Trio. With the fantastical funeral march (initiated by a spot-on solo bass), its bizarreness and elements such as the klezmer music were integrated into the whole without diminishing their respective characters; similarly the Finale married storm and love indivisibly – respectively pulsating and tender – and with the closing pages seamlessly connected to the whole, a victorious end to a performance of vernal freshness that brought the house down.
As centrepiece, Donghoon Shin’s new poetry-related viola-and-orchestra score, premiered two evenings ago, is a collaborative piece, the soloist and ensemble given rapturously lyrical writing, emotionally and intensely direct, if with the orchestra complexly complementary or confrontational, expressively reminding of Berg’s Violin Concerto. Threadsuns made a glorious first listen over its twenty-eight minutes, Amihai Grosz and his BP colleagues on top of technical challenges and projecting the music with tangible conviction.
- Lili Boulanger D’un matin de printemps
- Donghoon Shin Threadsuns for viola and orchestra – commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, the Tonkünstler-Orchester, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra
- Gustav Mahler Symphony No.1
https://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Donghoon-Shin-Threadsuns/110881
Amihai Grosz…
Including Mahler One…