Broadening horizons at the “Spotlight” concert with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the astronaut Matthias Maurer.
So, while man relentlessly insists on being totally different from everything and everyone else, he injects a human quality into everything and everyone he meets. From the hard-working bee on the native geranium to warlike Mars far out in the solar system. Afterwards he comes into the picture and can’t cloud a little water. Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” is a magnificent piece of music, but once you start thinking about the universe, it’s also a little short of expecting the bringers of war and peace, happiness and old age from there.
Now, however, Holst was also more interested in astrology and mysticism, while the star guest at the “Spotlight” talk concert by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony was the astronaut Matthias Maurer. Maurer was on the ISS space station in 2021/22. Like probably everyone who has seen the sphere below us from the outside, he has a tender view of the earth, freed from prejudices through his own observation. One hangs on his every word, even when he says the usual in the packed hall of the Alte Oper Frankfurt: From the outside one understands that the earth is a spaceship, a whole and the only thing that is available to us. You can see climate change from space if you have some prior knowledge: recognize the dark green rainforest and the lighter green farmland, with columns of smoke in between where the forest is being burned.
The bombs on Mariupol
Cities illuminated at night are beautiful. South Korea looks like an island because North Korea is a black hole. Ukraine has also been black since February 24. The bombardment of Mariupol, for example, could be seen. There were also Russians on the ISS, everyone up there, according to Maurer, was horrified, all against the war.
Holst does not let his ugliness, that of war, be heard in the first piece of the orchestral suite, dedicated to Mars. It’s an exciting saber-rattling, thrilling like a movie’s opening credits. Conductor Hugh Wolff was immediately asked by moderator Dirk Wagner (for connoisseurs: space wagner, like his podcast) whether that wasn’t “Star Wars” music. Indeed, but written 20 years before John Williams was born, according to Wolff. So stolen, according to the moderator, who obviously finds his way around better in space than in the realms of music, which is extremely affected by theft. Of course stolen, said Wolff.
The “Spotlights” began under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, it was captivating when he went into details, also together with the orchestra. This time the view expanded into the extraterrestrial. At least there was an opportunity to uphold rarities, a euphonium, a bass oboe. Everything is included, said Wolff, really everything.
The orchestra, this labor-intensive marvel, is reflected, if you will, in the images of the ISS and its instruments, with only the astronaut in them, flying loops. There is no reason to be optimistic, but there are moments when people can impress you. Music and space exploration lend themselves very well to this.
At the hr symphony concert this Friday there will be “The Planets” again. The next “Spotlight” is already on March 16th. www.alteoper.de
