Fabian Schellhorn
Photo: Fabian Schellhorn Download (mp3, 12 MB)
Philharmonie Berlin – Music Festival Berlin 2024: Opening with the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra
The 20th year of this festival has the motto “Amériques” – and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra was a guest at the Berlin Philharmonie right at the start. Under the direction of conductor Thierry Fischer, they performed the title piece “Amériques” by Edgard Varèse as well as works by composers from the American continent.
America as the motto – one would normally have expected the New York Philharmonic or the orchestra from Cleveland to kick things off. When festival director Winrich Hopp looks to Brazil for the opening, it is a choice. And a good one. The São Paolo Symphony Orchestra has existed for 70 years, and with the Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer, they have had a good name there for four years.
Image: Fabian SchellhornAbsolute quality
What is on the programme demands absolute quality, and the orchestra can offer this under its chief conductor. The opening with “Central Park in the Dark” by Charles Ives is magnificently well-crafted. The colours, which are muted for long stretches, are wonderfully balanced; nothing is blurred.
Thierry Fischer attaches great importance to absolute audibility; the orchestra practically eats out of his hand.
who | how | what
“Amériques” in X-ray
The piece “Amériques” by Edgard Varèse, which gives the festival its title, was performed at the end of the official program, and it is a color panorama of the highest order, with a gigantic cast – the entire stage is packed, one could actually get claustrophobic.
You hear the piece every now and then, usually as a noise orgy – but here it is served in a much more differentiated way. Thierry Fischer relies on absolute transparency. Individual sound effects flicker – you can hear sirens or a squeaking noise like on the Berlin S-Bahn in the north-south tunnel. It is only in the last five minutes that the announced infernal noise unfolds, and it is a density that wraps itself around your neck and presses tighter and tighter. You have to expose yourself to it, it is an experience that goes right to the bone. Great!
Urwaldvogel
One piece of the evening was by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. “Uirapurú” is a mythological bird from the jungle that brings good luck. You don’t need to know that. The brilliantly arranged orchestral piece plays with timbres, whistling, squeaking and trilling. Sometimes it sounds rhythmically like a woodpecker, then again it croaks like a raven, and somewhere a strange nightingale seems to have lost its way.
This is sophisticated fodder for an excellent orchestra, especially for the soloists, who can let off steam. And they do it because they can. It’s fun because this work is also played at such a fantastic level.
Photo: Fabian SchellhornWonderful violinist
Hilary Hahn was actually announced as the soloist for Alberto Ginastera’s violin concerto. She had to cancel due to illness, and the Ukrainian violinist Roman Simovic stepped in. Of course, it’s always a shame when Hilary Hahn has to cancel – especially since she has already recorded the concerto on CD – but Simovic was a brilliant stand-in – more than that.
The way he interpreted this complicated concerto – a pretty tough one – as if it were the easiest exercise, and at a level of sound that was so beautiful that it would melt you away – was a blessing. To the more than deserved applause, Simovic played the ballad by Eugène Ysaÿe as an encore – it hasn’t been heard so wonderful for a long time.
Successful opening
What can I say – it was a completely different kind of music festival opening. Also of absolute quality, but this time surprising and imaginative – also in the additions. During the break, we were offered small Brazilian culinary treats, and as a late night, there was a concert by the Big Band of the Orchestra from São Paolo, which put everyone in a good mood.
It was playful, sensual and artistic at the highest level. What more could you want?
More
Reto Klar / FUNKE Photo Services
Before the opening – “Amériques”: the Berlin Music Festival delves into American sound worlds
A conversation with Winrich Hopp, artistic director
Mario Daloia
ARD Radio Festival 2024: Concert – LIVE: Musikfest Berlin
Thierry Fischer conducts the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra with Roman Simovic, violin Delayed broadcast from the Berlin Philharmonie
As of 26.08.2024
