Off to Italy! If not in person, you can at least escape the gray of Berlin for a while with the Konzerthausorchester, Joana Mallwitz and our former Artist in Residence violist Antoine Tamestit. First, Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi takes you through picturesque Ligurian villages.
The 21-year-old Felix Mendelssohn also fell in love with the landscape of the south: "There is music in it, it resounds and sounds from all sides." He wrote to his sister Fanny: "In general, composing is now going well again. The 'Italian Symphony' is making great progress; it will be the funniest piece I have written." However, the first version was only completed with great effort in the Berlin winter of 1832 - you really can't hear it!
Hector Berlioz wandered through Abruzzo. Impressions from this tour and inspiration from Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" resulted in a stylistically unique symphony in which the solo viola seems to embody the thematically introspective wanderer, while the orchestra seems to embody the romantic, roaring world, including a serenade to the beloved and the robbers' camp.
Program
Andrea Tarrodi: "Liguria"
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 4 in A major op. 90 ("Italian")
Hector Berlioz: "Harold in Italy" - Symphony for orchestra (with solo viola)
February 22, 2025
