Symphoniker Hamburg / Special Concert
»Eine Handvoll Staub in mein Herz« / »And a handful of dust is my heart«
Symphonic music absolutely doesn’t need to be the product of an ivory tower – that much is shown by the overwhelming orchestral output of the last century. The second concert given by the Laeiszhalle’s Orchestra in Residence in the Elbphilharmonie under its chief conductor Jeffrey Tate promises the audience a refined look back at the great variety of 20th century music.
Unlike its predecessor, Edward Elgar’s Second Symphony of 1911 opens all effusive, then ends on a note of tender resignation. In the year of Gustav Mahler’s death, the British composer anticipates the outbreak of the First World War. »And a handful of dust is my heart« – thus a line of poetry that he wrote above the tempestuous third movement.
One world war later, Erich Wolfgang Korngold found himself almost incapable of writing anything except film soundtracks. The native of Vienna, whose Jewish origin caused him to emigrate to the USA in 1938, composed only a single violin concerto during the entire war years. Given its first performance by Jascha Heifetz, the concerto had a liberating effect after the end of the war: it was like music that had grown out of the rubble and dust.
Performers
Symphoniker Hamburg
Akiko Suwanai violin
Programme
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Konzert für Violine und Orchester D-Dur op. 35
– Interval –
Edward Elgar
Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 63