Sunday March 15, 2009
German mastery
They’ve been performing fine classical music for more than half a century. Tomorrow, they will finally make their debut in Malaysia.
AS one of seven orchestras in Berlin, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSOB) faces quite a task setting itself apart. With more than 60 years of experience, however, the ensemble has more than distinguished itself as a musical force to be reckoned with.
Founded in 1946 by Ferenc Fricsay, the orchestra was initially known as the RIAS Symphonie-Orchester. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the ensemble changed its name to the present one to better reflect the city’s newly reunited cultural landscape.
Conductor Ingo Metzmacher will lead the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in its Malaysian debut tomorrow and on Tuesday. – Photos from Dewan Filharmonik Petronas The DSOB gained prominence under the batons of illustrious conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, and Kent Nagano. The current music director, Ingo Metzmacher, has the honour of being the first German to hold the position.
Metzmacher is known for his New Year’s Eve concerts in Hamburg from 1999 to 2004, Who’s Afraid of 20th Century Music?, which received tremendous public acclaim and has been recorded.
He made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting the world premičre of Hans Werner Henze’s Ninth Symphony, which was recorded live by EMI.
He is further noted for his production of Luigi Nono’s Prometeo at the Salzburg Festival in 1993, and his recording of the complete symphonies of Karl Amadeus Hartmann for EMI with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.
Metzmacher, who took up his position with the DSOB in 2007, expresses his enjoyment of his work.
“I feel very privileged,” he says in an e-mail interview. “As chief conductor and artistic director of the DSOB, I am able to establish a very close and intense relationship with this wonderful orchestra. This is also true of the relationship with our public in Berlin.”
Renowned for its varied repertoire and particular emphasis on modern and contemporary music, DSOB’s style is unique due to the transparency and structural clarity of its sound.
“A particular strength of the DSOB is its especially brilliant and warm sound,” says Metzmacher.
He adds that the DSOB is set apart from other orchestras by the fact that they have mottos for their concert seasons.
“This season, our motto is Breakthrough 1909,” he explains. “We are exploring the musical revolutionary impulses and changes in the period between 1900 and World War I. This was specifically the time in which the concept of tonality was being increasingly questioned until it finally collapsed.”
One of the ensemble’s fortes is playing internationally, and it has thus far presented concerts in countries as varied as Belgium, China, France, Greece, Japan, Lebanon, Russia, Spain, and the United States.
Malaysian audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy DSOB’s first performance in the country when it begins a two-day showcase at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas tomorrow.
The first day will see the orchestra presenting Richard Wagner’s Prelude: Lohengrin, Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No.7. Collaborating with them will be German baritone Matthias Goerne, a celebrated singer of lieder, which are literary German poems set to 19th century music. This award winning singer’s past collaborators include famed pianists such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Christoph Eschenbach, and Elisabeth Leonskaja.
The second night will feature a collaboration on Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with violinist Christian Tetzlaff. In its second performance (on Tuesday night), the DSOB will perform Anton Webern’s Passacaglia (Op.1) and Beethoven’s Symphony No.3 in E flat (Op.55) – Eroica. The ensemble will also collaborate with German violinist Christian Tetzlaff on Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto.
Tetzlaff, who made his debut at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in 2004, was named Intrumentalist of the Year by the music business website Musical America in 2005, and is a master of Classical and Romantic repertoire as well as contemporary music.
- The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin will perform on March 16 and 17 at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (Petronas Twin Towers) at 8.30pm. Tickets range from RM220 to RM60 and are available from the box office (03-2051 7007). Bookings can also be made through fax (03-2051 7077) or e-mail (dfp_boxoffice@petronas.com.my).
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