Kirill Petrenko’s Stunning Performance at the Berlin Philharmonie: A Preview of His Festival Program

Kirill Petrenko presented the first of his two festival programs in advance in the Berlin Philharmonie

An exciting concert with music by the little-noticed “regent of the year” Max Reger and Richard Strauss – Salzburg Festival visitors can look forward to: Via the Digital Concert Hall, the music world has already been able to “pre-listen” and see what the Berliner Philharmoniker, under the direction of their chief conductor Kirill Petrenko, will be doing this time Bring Salzburg with you. For Max Reger’s “Mozart Variations” it was a kind of awakening from its slumber, for Richard Strauss’ “Heldenleben” it was a liberation from too many sloppinesses and inaccuracies that usually cloud the sound as soon as the much-performed work is not conducted by a master.

memories of great times

Now the Berliners have had the “heroic life” under the direction of their long-time boss Herbert von Karajan on the program again and again since they added the last highlights to the Salzburg program year after year towards the end of the festival. Apart from Christian Thielemann’s legendary Salzburg concert debut with this work (leading the Vienna Philharmonic), one probably has to go back to Karajan to remember a comparably excellently designed rendition of the much-played but also much-abused score.

What Petrenko achieves in terms of tonal and dynamic differentiation from his orchestra, which is really polished to a high gloss in all registers, is probably unique in today’s classical music business. The colorful tale of the composer’s “heroic deeds” only becomes so transparent on public holidays; especially in those moments when the threshold from making music to making noise is often crossed: Even the battle painting called “Des Helden Walstatt” can be “seen through” in Petrenko’s small parts down to the last gunner.

A colourful, sounding fairy tale

And the main characters of the story are vividly drawn in all their facets. The concertmaster of the Berliners not only completed the notorious violin solo with virtuosity, but also took the time to model all the intricate figures and nuances for the characterization of “the hero’s companion”. Actually, as one could marvel at the broadcast of the preview in Berlin in the Digital Concert Hall, the famous dialogue between the composer and his Pauline in “Heldenleben” is actually in two parts – just as the argument before the wonderfully flowing love scene was played this time , the solution to the riddle was recognized in the last section of the tone poem: “Des Helden Escape from the World” is performed in pairs: the melody, whose coherent formulation the violin could not succeed under the increasingly impatient “supervision” of the rest of the orchestra, finally appears in togetherness as a matter of course.

That is probably one of the outstanding qualities of a really important interpretation, that it is able to bind a huge work into a coherent whole and to create references over long distances. In this way, even a Strauss connoisseur gets a new look at a well-known work. If he is a critic, he is also pleased that “the hero’s adversary”, i.e. his own species, sounds downright euphonious in such an enchantingly musical performance: that in Strauss’ time there were so many reviewers who were so enchantingly precise , witty and well thought-out, like the assembled Berlin woodwind players in 2023, is enviously noted.

Live in Salzburg on Sunday

Am Sunday evening this program will be repeated in the Great Salzburg Festival Hall. On Monday The Berliners and Petrenko dare to tackle particularly delicate fare: Arnold Schönberg’s first large twelve-tone work, the Variations for Orchestra op. 31. The connection to Berlin’s history is eminent: the Philharmoniker, under the direction of their then chief conductor, Wilhelm Furtwängler, have the composition once premiered.

2023-08-26 10:44:54
#inspire #Salzburg