In the wake of the Hamas massacre
Munich Philharmonic plays Israeli music
11.09.2024 by Sylvia Schreiber
The conductor Lahav Shani and the composer Michael Seltenreich have known each other since their youth in Tel Aviv. Now Shani is conducting the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Seltenreich’s piece “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”, which also deals with the Hamas terror attack of October 7. A conversation about music and life in Israel.
BR-KLASSIK: Lahav Shani, you and Michael Seltenreich have known each other since school. And now you are working together again after a long time. How does it feel?
Lahav Shani: This is the first time we’ve worked together since high school. Michael has been in New York for the past few years, and I’ve been in Berlin. And when I heard that I was going to be able to conduct one of his works, I was incredibly excited. Ah, my old friend! This is going to be something! I’ve always thought before: he’s so talented and has such great ideas, including when it comes to orchestration and the emotions in the music, the harmonies. And that’s exactly why I was so curious to see how he had developed over the years.
Lahav manages to get a lot of musical and emotional power out of the orchestra. Lahav can generate energy!
Michael Seltenreich about Lahav Shani
Michael Seltenreich and Lahav Shani. | Image source: Co Merz
BR-KLASSIK: Michael Seltenreich, did it influence you in any way when you knew that Lahav Shani would be conducting your work?
Michael Seltenreich: Absolutely. When I knew that Lahav Shani would be conducting the premiere, that helped a lot. What I remembered most was how he manages to get a lot of musical and emotional power out of the orchestra. He can do that, even as a pianist. Lahav can generate energy! So from the moment his name came into play, it was absolutely clear: I’m going to write a piece full of explosive energy.
To the article
Lahav Shani talks about his role models and his musical career in the BR-KLASSIK interview.
Seltenreich and Shani: Deep trust
BR-KLASSIK: Is a form of trust also important in this piece, “The Prisoner’s Dilemma,” which was written immediately after the massacre by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023? You both grew up in Israel, you know how difficult it is to be an Israeli citizen.
Michael Seltenreich: Exactly! However, I have to say that the commission to compose came long before October 7th. At that time, there was only talk of a collaboration between the Lucerne Festival and the Munich Philharmonic. When I started the piece, I had something completely different in mind.
BR-KLASSIK: And then came October 7th?
Michael Seltenreich: That’s when the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra came on board as a partner. And from then on it was just as you say. Lahav and I are both Israelis. And we are both Israelis who live outside of Israel. That is a very special connection. A catastrophe happened in our homeland. We both have family in Israel, we hear about it, we experience the fear. And we are not there for them.
We never imagined that things would turn out this way: that the war has now lasted almost a year.
Lahav Shani
BR-KLASSIK: How are you now?
Lahav Shani: I think when Michael wrote the piece, we all thought that the massacre was a horror and that something had to be done. It simply cannot go on like this! But we never thought that it would develop to the point where the war has now lasted almost a year. The situation is bad at the moment. And the mood in Israel is difficult because you are thinking about so many people at the same time. The hostages, of course, and the victims of the Nova Festival. The hostages must come back first. But our society must also survive somehow. And for me it is just as important at the moment that we as Israelis find unity again.
Live broadcast on BR-KLASSIK
BR-KLASSIK will broadcast Lahav Shani’s concert with the Munich Philharmonic live on the radio on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, from 8:03 p.m. You can then listen to the concert for 30 days.
Soloist: Renaud Capuçon, Violin
Unsuk Chin: “Immediately with force”; Henri Dutilleux: Violin Concerto – “The Tree of Dreams”; Michael Seltenreich: “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” (premiere of the commissioned work); Paul Ben-Haim: Symphony No. 1
Seltenreich’s music expresses emotional experience
BR-KLASSIK: How political is your music, Michael Seltenreich?
Michael Seltenreich: For me, as a composer, the piece is an urgent need to express an emotional experience that I have lived through. I am not a politician and I don’t want to be one.
BR-KLASSIK: “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” is a term from game theory. What do you mean by this title?
Notes for Michael Seltenreich’s piece “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” | Image source: Co Merz
Michael Seltenreich: It describes a situation in which you want to win a game but have incomplete information. So there are two players trying to beat the other, but neither knows what the other is going to do. Very importantly, the game is about life-changing decisions with far-reaching consequences. That seemed to me to be a fitting connection to the play, because politicians also have to make decisions without knowing what the other is thinking and planning. But this is not program music. I am not trying to tell the story of October 7th.
It is important for us to have music that speaks directly to our times.
Lahav Shani
BR-KLASSIK: How do you feel about the music, Mr. Shani? This is the second time you have conducted this piece. Does it affect you emotionally?
Lahav Shani: It is highly emotional. When we performed the piece in Israel, the whole orchestra had the same feeling. The audience too. Probably because we know that it is somehow influenced by October 7th. For me, for example, the second movement is like a requiem. When that chord comes in the trombones, a huge tragedy is taking place. And just before that, the air raid siren. Every Israeli who hears it experiences the sounds at the beginning of the second movement as a trauma. I think it is important for us to have music like this that deals directly with our time.
Concert after foiled terrorist attack in Munich
BR-KLASSIK: The last attempted terrorist attack was just a few days ago here in Munich. How does it feel for you, Mr. Seltenreich, knowing that this piece is now being performed for the second time in Munich and then in Lucerne?
Paul Ben-Haim’s Symphony No. 1 on the music stand of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra | Image source: Co Merz
Michael Seltenreich: I find that a very interesting question. Because when I was composing, I wasn’t thinking about a specific audience. I just knew that the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra would definitely play the piece with love. The premiere in July was very moving. Afterwards I asked Lahav: Do you think it spoke to our fellow countrymen because it somehow affects them? How will a German orchestra receive it, understand it? And how will the piece affect the German audience? I have asked myself these questions over and over again and I can hardly wait to find out the answer.
BR-KLASSIK: Is there hope in this piece? The next piece after the break by Paul Ben-Haim, his 1st Symphony, also has a certain fear in the second movement, but still great hope.
Lahav Shani: The whole story of Paul Ben-Haim is very interesting and important for the public to know. He was born in Munich and was a German composer and conductor known under the name Paul Frankenburger until he was about 40 years old. Ben-Haim, which means “son of Heinrich”, is the Jewish name of his father. In any case, he had to flee Germany in 1933 and emigrated to Palestine. There were already some good musicians there, but no real symphonic orchestra, which only came three years later.
BR-KLASSIK: The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, whose chief conductor You are too?
Lahav Shani: Exactly. It was founded in 1936 by Bronislaw Huberman, and Toscanini was the first conductor. That was a big event in Tel Aviv and for Israel anyway. And for Ben-Haim it was the opportunity to write a symphony. The Second World War began, and in 1941 he finished the piece as the first symphony written in Israel. The second movement you mentioned contains “psalms”, so it is a prayer and already contains a certain hope. In Michael Seltenreich’s tragic piece there is also hope in the last movement. You suddenly hear a beautiful chorale from the wind instruments, which is very suggestive, as if we could experience something like that too. “Chaim” means life. The name “Ben-Chaim” can also be interpreted as “son of life”.
