Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Baiba Skride / Maxime Pascal
Strawinsky: Sinfonie / Messiaen: L´Ascension / Gubaidulina: 3. Violinkonzert / Der Zorn Gottes – Hamburg International Music Festival
Faith and humanity
Faith is the central theme in the life and music of Sofia Gubaidulina. In 1970, the composer, to whom this year’s Hamburg International Music Festival dedicates a focus, was baptised a Russian Orthodox. Her connection with the divine cosmos characterises her entire oeuvre and is revealed in numerous religiously inspired work titles. This is also the case in »Der Zorn Gottes« (The Wrath of God), her »grandiose apocalyptic orchestral work« (Süddeutsche Zeitung), which premiered in 2022 and in which Gubaidulina refers to a recurring motif in the Bible with the theme of the Last Judgement and stages it with powerful sound.
In the first half of the concert the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, who lives in Hamburg, takes the leading role in Gubaidulina’s Third Violin Concerto »Dialog: Ich und Du« (Dialogue: I and You). It was inspired by Martin Buber’s 1923 book of the same name, in which the Jewish philosopher and theologian described human relationships.
These two works are complemented by Olivier Messiaen’s orchestral work »L’ascension« about the ascension of Christ and Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements from 1946, in which the composer processed his »difficult time with its violent and changing events«.
Performers
hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt
Baiba Skride violin
conductor Maxime Pascal
Programme
Igor Strawinsky
Symphony in Three Movements
Sofia Gubaidulina
Dialog: Ich und Du / Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Orchestra
– Interval –
Olivier Messiaen
L’ascension / Quatre méditations symphoniques
Sofia Gubaidulina
Der Zorn Gottes
Subscription
Elbphilharmonie for Connoisseurs
Festival
Hamburg International Music Festival