Happiness in disaster – we experienced the European concert of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Odessa on May 1, which could not take place in war-torn Ukraine, as an incredible but real miracle in Liepaja. It could be watched live by 500 million people in more than 30 countries, but to the public in Liepaja In the large amber had the opportunity to enjoy the performance of an excellent orchestra in person. Let me remind you that the last visit in 2008 was huge Berlin Philharmonic the composition barely fit on the stage of the Latvian National Opera.
European concert in Liepaja on Sunday, May 1, in the afternoon, Berlin Philharmonic played under the direction of his chief conductor Kirill Petrenko and with mezzo – soprano Elina Garanci. She shone in this program in the extensive, multilingual cycle of Luciano Berio Folk songs. This was also the first program for a newcomer At the Berlin Philharmonic violinist Vineta Sareika, now the second Latvian in the current orchestra.
In complete harmony
Both the venue and the program had to be changed urgently to make its message even stronger and to show solidarity with Ukraine, alongside the unity and values of the European spirit. It was started by a group of orchestra strings with Pēteris Vasks Painful music playback. In the deep personal music of mourning, composed by the composer in memory of his sister in 1983, we also heard the hopelessness and tragedy of the Soviet era – anxiety and pain about the destruction of the Latvian people and culture, but also the hope that the light of the spirit cannot be killed. Content of a frequently heard opus Berlin Philharmonic The performance gained an even sharper meaning and a broader context: personal pain is even deeper and more tense, contrasts are more pronounced, nuances are more subtle, cello solo is even more painful, the pulse of timing (orchestra’s ostinato pedal) is even more inevitable. Kirill Petrenko drove it all into purposeful drama, offering a fresh look at Wax’s work as we know it. Value in itself is the ideal characteristics of the orchestra’s ensemble and sound culture.
The large amber acoustics allowed to adequately enjoy the Ukrainian classic Valentina Silvestrova Elegy the extremely muted, medically unhurried, almost extraterrestrial aesthetic and post-musical aesthetics. This long meta-music (Silvestrov’s own term) sounded and echoed in the infinite, clearly transparent space of eternity, in which the string orchestra under Kirill Petrenko illuminated every subtle movement. It would be almost impossible to achieve this with dry, “flat” acoustics.
And then – already in a thick instrumental composition, but keeping the nerve of chamber music, Berlin Philharmonic along with Elina Garança played the iconic Luciano Berio eleven Folk songs. It is a unique opio of Berio, because the composer combines the heritage of different nations creatively reproduced, “transplanted” in the environment of contemporary sound, stylized original music, different languages, emotions and moods in a phlorological manner. Most of these songs tell about love – lyrical, passionate, with humor, infinitely gentle, energetic, sharp, melancholy and jubilant. Elīna Garanča, who once interpreted this cycle with maestro Mariss Janson (first with the Royal concert hall orchestras in 2007 in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Vienna, then with the Berlin Philharmonic) feel organic in these songs. She inhabits them with her voice and feminine feeling, with the taste of the land and the sea and highlights the unpolished style of folk singing typical of different peoples (Scots, Native Americans, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, French, Italians, including Sicilians and Sardinians). The orchestra, on the other hand, “splits” into sensitive chamber ensembles of solo instruments, which (clarinet, flute, oboe, harp, strings, individual percussion instruments, etc.) resonate or respond to the singer’s voice, gradually increasing in power and glory. The voice culminates in a thrilling cycle of Azerbaijani love song masterfully painted by Elīna Garanča in a passionate dance and delightful vocal special effects.
Berlin Philharmonic The symposium and scope of the symphony were confirmed by the opuses of Leos Janacech and Jean Sibelius in the second part of the concert. Janacek rhapsody Tarass Buļba The musician ‘s reading was addressed as a figuratively vivid, cinematic message about the fighting and tragic death of a whole family of men, Taras Buba and his two sons. At the same time, it expresses the belief that common sense will prove to be stronger than the futility of war in the future. The orchestra conjured up effective, dynamic battle scenes at a time when the warriors were rattling on horses, as well as the scenes of cruel punishment and the clash of cultures and values (the score also includes an organ associated with the Polish Catholic environment).
The Finnish classic Sibelius sounded impressively emotionally saturated Finland – the power of metal wind instruments and the tutti of the orchestra, the dark strings of the strings, the alarmingly greedy cry of protest and awakening to freedom, the birth of the Finnish anthem and the unshakable conclusion. The aftertaste of the European concert will be remembered for a long time to come – Berlin Philharmonic and the absolute, inspiring dedication of conductor Kirill Petrenko, the ensemble of the orchestra and at the same time the mastery, perfection and precision of every musician combined with the zeal and freedom of the play. But above all – Berlin Philharmonic special sound. In general, anything you can try to say about it sounds banal. It was just lucky to experience it.
A world of thoughts and feelings
Elīna Garanča’s bright performance with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Liepāja was separated only ten days from her long-awaited solo concert at the Latvian National Opera (LNO), which she performed on April 21 with conductor Karel Mark Chichon and the LNO Orchestra. Although the singer’s homeland is not forgotten and in previous years she has performed here at the National Theater with Raimonds Pauls, in the vocal chamber music program in Liepāja and Rēzekne with pianist Malcolm Martino, and in concerts Elīna Garanča and friends In the Dzintari Concert Hall, on the LNO stage, she had not been seen for seven years. Tickets for her concert were sold out at wind speed, even though it was not known exactly what the diva would sing.
The last time in December 2015, Elīna Garanča sang at the Opera in memory of her mother, long-time vocal teacher Anita Garanča, and even then there were significant changes in the singer’s voice and, consequently, in the choice of repertoire. Towards emotionally filled drama, vocal space and at the same time the warmth and depth of voice. In her solo concert this spring, the artist revealed to the audience what changes have taken place with her in the last seven years. What we have heard now is more than vocal mastery. Elīna Garanča’s performance confirms her artistic and personal maturity, which cannot be achieved only with vocal training. Now in the voice of Elina Garanca through the hero of the opera – Santuca (in the drama of the Honor of the farmer), Duchess of Adriana and Buenos Aires (Francesco Chilean Opera Adrian Lecuvreer), Margaritas (in the dramatic legend of Hector Berlioz The destruction of Faust) and Jeanne d’Arc (at the Peter Tchaikovsky Opera Virgin of Orleans) – we are addressed to the aria by the singer ‘s own human experience, world of thoughts and feelings.
Although the range of Elīna Garanča’s voice has always allowed her to play with brilliant colors, this is the moment when the voice reveals its possibilities in a completely different quality, interpreting the roles of both mezzo-soprano and soprano right next door – and even from the same opera (Adrian Lecuvreer). This was the time when the singer’s voice in the face of feminine warmth, true, natural, direct emotionality and passionate self-sacrifice should be capitulated by the last skeptics, whose voice and personality Elīna Garanča had so far remained cool and interpreted with her mind. She is a very clever artist of interpretation and sings sensitively into the souls of her characters and resonates with them, opening the very depths of her heart.
It should be noted that even the Neapolitan songs, which we often consider the easy, entertaining part of the concert and which have been so drilled and leveled by all sorts of “three tenors”, filled Elīna Garanča with a deeper emotional content and meaning. Elīna Garanča’s special master doctor was also left out – the filming of a delightfully playful voice in the temperamental jailers from the Spanish composer Ruperto Chapi Sarsuela Daughter of Zebedee, which the audience expected in the concert supplement. Conductor Karel Mark Chichon, on the other hand, has once again shaken the LNO orchestra in record time, so that the symphonic compositions of Giuseppe Verdi, Sergei Prokofiev and Franz von Supé during the concert sound nuanced, colorful, bright and powerful, attracting as much attention as Elina. Prokofiev Monteki un Kapuleti the performance was the pinnacle of the brilliant virtuosity of the orchestra. Used to breathe with the singers, the conductor equally sensitively played the solo of the violinist, orchestra’s concertmaster Svetlana Okuņa, so that it would flourish in Žila Masne. In meditation you do not operate Taida.
–
