“Late Night” concert with Simon Rattle and Martin Löhr

When listening to the Overture to the “Flying Dutchman”, as sight-read by a bad spa band at 7 o’clock in the morning at the fountain, a musical gem by Paul Hindemith, the fun knows no bounds: with subtle irony, but also with a thoroughly earthy sense of humour, the composer takes on the cult-like adulation accorded the Bayreuth master. This piece is by no means a parody of Wagner’s music, but rather – as the title suggests – it pokes fun at the arrangement craze of past times as well as at shoddy musicianship, a most rare commodity in the Philharmonie.

Musical surprises – masterminded by Sir Simon Rattle – and high spirits are thus guaranteed in the late hours. Hindemith’s works generally seem a good fit for the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Late Nights: after Kammermusik No. 1, which was performed in December 2012, this programme features Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 3. The soloist in what is essentially a little concerto for cello and chamber orchestra is the Philharmoniker’s principal cellist Martin Löhr.

The programme is rounded off by Witold Lutosławski’s Preludes and Fugue for 13 solo strings – a composition that proves two things: that modern music can be extremely exciting and that each and every member of the Berliner Philharmoniker has got what it takes for a solo career.

Sir Simon Rattle

Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker