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  • © Stefan Hoederath
    © Stefan Hoederath

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons, Anne‐Sophie Mutter: Adès, Lutosławski, Sibelius at Gewandhaus

Leipzig, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig — Grosser Saal

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About the Event

Both violin solo works are dedicated to the same artist. Anne‐Sophie Mutter, whose declared mission is to champion new music, premiered the orchestral version of Witold Lutosławski's Partita and Air by Gewandhaus composer Thomas Adès. The introverted Air, which enchanted festival audiences in Lucerne in 2022, is juxtaposed with the bustling, playful Partita, whose obbligato piano part bears witness to its prehistory as a duo for string and keyboard instrument. Both pieces profess historical roots. The Partita makes no secret of Lutosławski's admiration for Bach, and Adès once again bows to his role model Sibelius, the mediator between past and future.
The latter's 2nd Symphony absorbed impressions of a trip to Europe. In Rapallo, Italy, Sibelius developed the plan for a festival — four tone poems and notated the first motifs that later entered the 2nd Symphony. In Florence, a sequence of notes was added that Sibelius associated with 'Christ' and cross‐integrated into the score. The reading of Dante's Divine Comedy is also said to have left traces in the developing work. The lengthy composition process wore on Sibelius's nerves. The mildest influenza made him doubt whether he would live long enough to complete the score. The enormous demands of the genre troubled him as much as personal concerns: after all, a symphony is no ordinary 'composition.' It is a profession of faith. The new great symphony, inspired by Italy and the Mediterranean, is dedicated to the generous Baron Axel Carpelan, who never had any money, but always knew where he could find funds for Sibelius: a symphony full of sunshine, blue skies and exuberant bliss.

Program

  • Thomas Adès – Air für Violine und Orchester – Hommage an Sibelius (Deutsche Erstaufführung)
  • Witold Lutoslawski – Partita für Violine und Klavier
  • Jean Sibelius – Sinfonie Nr. 2 D‐Dur op. 43
Program is subject to change

Artists

Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

The Leipzig Gewandhausorchester is a German orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. It is named after the concert hall in which it is based, the Gewandhaus.

The orchestra has a good claim to being the oldest continuing musical performing organization in Europe. In the early 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn was the kapellmeister.

Later principal conductors included Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Vaclav Neumann, and from 1970 to 1996 Kurt Masur. In 1998, Herbert Blomstedt took over the post until 2005 and will be succeeded by Riccardo Chailly.

As home to the Gewandhausorchester, the city of Leipzig possesses an orchestra of the highest world renown — one with an extraordinarily illustrious heritage spanning 275 years. In March 1743, sixteen Leipzig merchants founded a concert society, which was to shape musical history. Today, the Gewandhausorchester thrills and inspires music lovers the world over with both its passion for music and its unique, unmistakable sound.
Alongside its 70 symphonic Große Concerte per season, the Gewandhausorchester performs as the orchestra both of the Leipzig Opera — a role it has fulfilled for over 200 years — and of St. Thomas‘s Church, performing the music of JS Bach each week with the celebrated Thomanerchor. In addition, the Orchestra gives approximately 35 concerts per season all around the globe, and is documented on countless recordings. The unique diversity of the Gewandhausorchester‘s activities is a fundamental factor of Leipzig‘s international renown as ‚City of Music‘.

Conductor: Andris Nelsons
Violin: Anne‐Sophie Mutter

Anne‐Sophie Mutter was born in Rheinfelden in Baden. She embarked on her international career as a soloist in 1976 at the Lucerne Festival and a year later made her Salzburg debut at the Whitsun Concerts under Herbert von Karajan.

Ever since then she has been in equal demand as a soloist and chamber musician, and has given concerts in all the major music centres of Europe, North America and Asia. Since her debut with Deutsche Grammophon at the age of 14, she has received innumerable prizes for her recordings. The violinist has also committed herself to alleviating the medical and social problems of our times and gives regular benefit concerts to this end.

She has been the recipient of numerous important honours and distinctions, including the Order of the Republic of Germany (first class), the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Baden‐Württemberg Medal of Merit and the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. In 2002 she was awarded the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art and the Munich Cultural Prize of Honour; and in 2005 she was made an 'Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'.

Address

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Augustusplatz 8, Leipzig, Germany — Google Maps

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