Farewells, transience, and the fragile balance between joie de vivre and melancholy characterize this concert evening in the Great Hall. The NDR Radiophilharmonie combines two key works of music history into a program of great emotional and formal depth.
Joseph Haydn's Farewell Symphony in F-sharp minor, No. 45, is considered one of the most unusual works of the Classical period. With it, Haydn deliberately transcended the boundaries of conventional symphonic music: the legendary finale, in which one musician after another extinguishes his candle and leaves the stage, quickly became a symbol of silent protest and, at the same time, a poetic gesture of farewell. Far beyond this anecdote, the symphony captivates with its expressive musical language and bold formal structure, which impressively demonstrates Haydn's innovative spirit.
The second part of the evening features Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, a symphonic song cycle of existential power. Based on Chinese poetry freely adapted by Hans Bethge, Mahler unfolds a work in which Far Eastern imagery merges with a deeply personal proximity to death. Life-affirming drinking songs stand abruptly alongside resigned melancholy, hope alongside farewell. Mahler creates a musical legacy that hovers between intimacy and orchestral monumentality – a composer's last great confession in the awareness of finitude.
As soloists, Matthias Goerne and Andrew Staples give this work particular expressiveness. With their vocal presence and interpretative depth, they shape the contrasting emotional worlds of the cycle. The musical direction is in the hands of Stanislav Kochanovsky, who precisely explores the tension between classical formal rigor and late Romantic sonority. The result is a concert evening that not only addresses the theme of farewell, but also makes it a musical experience—quiet, overwhelming, and of timeless intensity.
June 5, 2026
