Joana Mallwitz makes her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker

Prokofiev planned his opera War and Peace, based on Tolstoy’s epic of the same name, as “lyrical scenes in the spirit of Tchaikovsky”. The result was a more than opulent work, which is introduced by a heroically dramatic overture. Joana Mallwitz begins her debut with the Philharmoniker with this work in a programme which also includes Rachmaninoff’s Third, one of the most difficult piano concertos of all time. Even for the great composer-virtuoso, the almost impossible solo part was a real challenge. Here, the soloist is Anna Vinnitskaya, who is known for overcoming all technical hurdles with ease.

This is followed by Paul Hindemith’s symphony “Mathis der Maler”, a key work of the first half of the 20th century that fluctuates between light mysticism and secular demonicism. The composition was inspired by three pictures from the Isenheim Altarpiece painted by Matthias Grünewald. Hindemith had already made the life of the Renaissance painter the centre of his opera Mathis der Maler, which was written in direct connection with it – according to Hindemith, the symphony was to be a “musical triptych”.

At the same time, Hindemith’s music reflected his own life situation after the National Socialists seized power in 1933: his career as a violist was put to an end by performance bans, and his music was vilified as “degenerate”. The premiere of the symphony by the Berliner Philharmoniker in March 1934, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler, turned into a cultural and political showdown that ended with Hindemith’s flight into exile.

Berliner Philharmoniker

Joana Mallwitz

Anna Vinnitskaya