Iveta Apkalna, organ

Shostakovich / Liszt / Bach / Liszt

This event has already taken place! 8 | 13 | 25 | 36 | 42
This event has already taken place! 8 | 13 | 25 | 36 | 42

A musical idea that always finds new ways of presenting itself – that is the concept of the musical variation. As the Elbphilharmonie’s titular organist, Iveta Apkalna is familiar with every detail of the organ in the Grand Hall. With highlights of the art of variations she presents all facets of the Elbphilharmonie organ and sets the mood for the upcoming Christmas season.

The Passacaglia is the supreme discipline in the art of variation: in his Passacaglia in c minor, BWV 582, Bach developed fascinating soundscapes from a dancelike theme and even added a large fugue.

In the hands (and feet) of the titular organist, Shostakovich’s Passacaglia, taken from the opera »Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk«, becomes the provocative personality profile of a highly dramatic plot. »Chaos Instead of Music« was the title of an article that appeared in the Pravda in 1936; the opera was banned for many years in the Soviet Union.

Franz Liszt paid his respects to his role model Bach in a very special manner. He set the musical name of the Thomaskantor (Cantor at St. Thomas) to music and varied the short motif that arises from the four letters B-A-C-H in manifold ways.

Performers

Iveta Apkalna organ

Programme

Franz Liszt
Legende »St. François d’Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux« / aus: Deux Légendes S 175 (Bearbeitung für Orgel von G. Berger)

Thierry Escaich
Evocation III

Johann Sebastian Bach
Passacaglia c-Moll BWV 582

– Interval –

Dmitri Schostakowitsch
Passacaglia aus der Oper »Lady Macbeth von Mzensk«

Arturs Maskats
Präludium, Choral und Variationen über J. S. Bach »Uns ist ein Kindlein heut’ gebor’n« BWV 414

Franz Liszt
Präludium und Fuge über den Namen B-A-C-H S 260


Encore:

Thierry Escaich
Évocation II

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