Tagged with 'Hamburg'

On 13 January 2017, Jörg Widmann’s new oratorio ARCHE will receive its premiere, marking the opening of the new Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg. Soprano Marlis Petersen and baritone Thomas E. Bauer will perform alongside the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano, with the combined choral forces of the Staatsopernchor, the choir of the AUDI Jugendakademie and the Hamburger Alsterspatzen.



ARCHE centres on mankind’s pleas to an indifferent god, vulnerably revealing all their wishes, fears and hopes for a better world. Widmann selected a variety of texts from different centuries, including from poets Matthias Claudius and Friedrich Schiller, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and the Bible. Scored for two soloists, three choirs, organ and orchestra, the music is similarly varied, ranging from intimate tonal passages to complex choral textures that make full use of the work's impressive forces.

Jörg Widmanns ARCHE – Let There be Sound!

ARCHE begins with the first act “Fiat Lux/ Es werde Licht” (“Let there be Light”), in which two child narrators chronicle, with factual innocence and at times ironic alienation, the act of creation. In the second act “Die Sintflut” (“The Flood”) vast cascading masses of sound evoke the power of the flood, rendering the violence of its destruction almost physically perceptible. This is followed by a gentler third act “Liebe” (“Love”), but even before the praise of love has faded away a double murder of jealously is reported – a reminder that mankind is not even capable of protecting the precious resource of love from evil. An apocalypse ensues in the fourth act, wherein Widmann sets “Dies Irae” alongside with Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”, exploring life, death and hope for salvation; appealing for divine intervention. The “Dona eis requiem” changes in the last act to “Dona nobis pacem”, but the children’s choir demands that man assumes the responsibility for his survival himself, and only then will peace be possible with a loving God.

The Elbphilharmonie’s location overlooking the water, and its architecture reminiscent of ships and sails, inspired Widmann:

It is an ‘ark of culture’, where we as humans may find refuge with our happiness but also our suffering, especially in this very turbulent time. It is a refuge in a politically stormy sea, where art takes place, and where music takes place. I think it is fantastic that it was built; it also contains something sacred. – Widmann

During the three-week festival of events for the opening of the hall, another of Widmann’s works, Sonatina facile, will be premiered by Mitsuko Uchida on 18 January.

• Jörg Widmann - Profile


• ARCHE - Details


• Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

 

 

Photos:
- Elbphilharmonie Hamburg: Maxim Schulz, 2016.
- Jörg Widmann (right) and Kent Nagano: Hannes Rathjen, 2016.

On 16 July, the Festival Napa Valley presents Embraceable You and I Got Rhythm from George Gershwin’s musical Girl Crazy with Kathleen Battle, Joel Revzen conducting Festival Orchestra NAPA.



Based on the libretto by Guy Bolton und John McGowan, Girl Crazy tells the story of Danny Churchill, an entertainer from New York who falls for the woman of his dreams, a postwoman named Molly Gray, after his father sends him to a ranch in Arizona. Nonetheless Danny longs for a sinful life, and turns the ranch into a night club and casino. Despite the ensuing chaos of conspiracies, robbery and pursuits, Molly and Danny manage to find their way back to each other.

George Gershwin’s Girl Crazy – a musical with jazz standards

Embraceable You was written in 1928 and was originally meant for the unpublished operetta, East is West. Two years later, Gershwin used the song as a romantic serenade in Girl Crazy. I Got Rhythm was also composed earlier, developing out of a slow instrumental piece from Gershwin’s previous work Treasure Girl (1928). The songs are now some of the most popular jazz standards, which shot singers like Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman (who played the role of Kate Fothergill, a singer in Danny’s night club) to stardom overnight.

It was the first time I’d met George Gershwin, and if I may say so without seeming sacrilegious, to me it was like meeting God. Imagine the great Gershwin sitting down and playing his songs for Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, of Astoria, Long Island. No wonder I was tongue-tied. When he played ‘I Got Rhythm’ he told me: ‘If there’s anything about this you don’t like, I’ll be happy to change it.’ There was nothing about that song I didn’t like. But that’s the kind of guy he was. I’ll never forget it. – Ethel Merman

I Got Rhythm can be heard again on 16 July by the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra in Louisiana. The work will also be featured in an arrangement by William C. Schoenfeld for piano and orchestra, I Got Rhythm Variations, at a gala performance by the Hamburg Ballet on 17 July.

Further performances of Gershwin’s works this month include Rhapsody in Blue on 11 July performed by Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille and Faycaol Karoui. On 12, 13 and 15 July the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival presents performances of Rhapsody in Blue and Cuban Ouverture. The latter work will also be performed by the SWR Sinfonieorchester in Freiburg on 16 July and in Evian by the orchestra of Académie Musicale d’Evian conducted by Bruno Peterschmitt on the same day.

• George Gershwin - profile


• Girl Crazy: Embraceable You - workdetails


• Girl Crazy: I Got Rhythm - workdetails


• Girl Crazy: I Got Rhythm Variations - workdetails