Interview
Jörg Widmann in conversation with Dominik Wollenweber Simon Rattle and Yefim Bronfman
One of the most yearning compositions ever written opens this concert: Wagner’s Tristan prelude. The main works of this evening conducted by Simon Rattle are Jean Sibelius’s mystical tone poem The Swan of Tuonela and his austere Nordic Fifth Symphony, plus the premiere of the piano concerto Trauermarsch by Jörg Widmann, one of the most interesting composers of the younger generation, with Yefim Bronfman as the soloist.
Many of Jörg Widmann’s works reveal a specific engagement with traditional musical forms, and his new Piano Concerto Trauermarsch – his first work in the genre – is no exception. “I don’t consider what is new a self-contained quality,” says the composer. In these concerts conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, none other than Yefim Bronfman will premiere Widmann’s Piano Concerto. “What keeps me going is the new repertory,” the world-renowned pianist tells the Los Angeles Times. “Learning new pieces and commissioning new works is what I enjoy most.”
The concert begins with the Prelude to Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde and ends with Jean Sibelius’s mystical tone poem The Swan of Tuonela and his Fifth Symphony. The last work clearly links to Sibelius’s Impressionist tone poems from the same era and boasts an entire palette of brilliant orchestral effects. Despite the success of the premiere, Sibelius revised the work and wrote as he worked on the Finale, “The entire piece is a vital heightening towards the end. Triumphant!” In this form, the Fifth quickly became the most popular of Sibelius’s symphonies.
Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle
Yefim Bronfman
© 2014 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
Interviews liées au concert
