Berliner Philharmoniker II

In the Berliner Philharmoniker’s second concert programme conducted by Kirill Petrenko the world premiere of a new work by Márton Illés meets Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s apocalyptic »Gesangsszene«, and Iannis Xenakis’s monolithic stream of sound »Jonchaies« meets György Kurtág’s elegiac orchestral work »Stele«.

It is possibly the most brilliant orchestral work of the late 20th century: the »Jonchaies« (rushes) of the mathematician, engineer and composer Iannis Xenakis, in which a monolithic stream of sound gradually shifts into ever higher registers. However, this imposing sound sculpture never gives the impression of being the result of a scientific concept. Instead, the music feels more like a natural phenomenon that befalls the listeners – entirely in keeping with Xenakis’s statement: »It must be possible to feel a sensation of shock just like hearing thunder or looking down into a never-ending abyss.« Before Xenakis’s landmark composition, the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Kirill Petrenko will present a new orchestral work by Márton Illés, who was born in Budapest in 1975, is a past winner of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation’s Composers’ Prize and one of the most successful composers of his generation. Afterwards Christian Gerhaher will perform the »Gesangsszene« (Song Scene) for baritone and orchestra that Karl Amadeus Hartmann composed during the era of the nuclear arms race, the Cold War and widespread pollution of the environment, setting texts from Jean Giraudoux’s stage play »Sodom and Gomorrha«. The evening concludes with György Kurtág’s large-scale orchestral work »Stele«, which was written in memory of the deceased composer, conductor and teacher András Mihály: a lament that was composed for the Berliner Philharmoniker, in which personal grief is elevated onto a universal human level.