Kicking off the new season with Gustav Mahler! This has now become a cherished tradition for the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and its principal conductor, Alan Gilbert. Following the Second in 2022 and the First last year, the programme for the 2026 Opening Night now features the Sixth Symphony by the Titan of orchestral heights – that powerful work with its legendary hammer blows in the finale. Before that, a true institution from within the orchestra’s own ranks will take to his percussion instrument: Stephan Cürlis, principal timpanist and a cult favourite with the audience, will perform a timpani concerto by James Oliverio to mark the start of his final season with the NDR.
His many fans have no doubt been secretly waiting for this for a long time: Stephan Cürlis is, in any case, enthusiastically celebrated for every one of his highly musical interpretations of the timpani part in major orchestral works. Now, however, he finally takes centre stage as the soloist in a concerto for timpani and orchestra. It was originally written by the award-winning (film) composer James Oliverio for the timpanist of the Cleveland Orchestra, who premiered it in 2023 under the baton of Alan Gilbert. Whilst the timpani is normally thought of as »an instrument at the very back of the orchestra« that »amplifies crescendos and provides rhythmic accents«, Oliverio explains that with this concerto he wanted to write a piece »that highlights the beautiful sound of the timpani themselves«.
Whilst the timpani is usually thought of as »an instrument at the very back of the orchestra« that »amplifies crescendos and provides rhythmic accents«, Oliverio explains that with this concerto he wanted to write a piece »that highlights the beautiful sound of the timpani itself«. Here, then, the percussion instrument becomes a melodic instrument in its own right – a role tailor-made for the consummate musician Stephan Cürlis, who is set to retire at the end of the 2026/2027 season.
Gustav Mahler remarked that his Sixth Symphony would »pose riddles that only a generation which has absorbed and digested my first five symphonies may dare to tackle«. The latter has long since happened; the generation in question has long since caught up. Today, the »Tragic«, which with its thunderous hammer blows in the finale seems to foreshadow Mahler’s own personal tragedies, is regarded as the most personal of his symphonies. Outwardly resembling the classical form of a Beethoven symphony, it explores previously unimagined realms of expression through extreme orchestral colours – leaving everything »classical« far behind.
Performers
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
Stephan Cürlis timpani
conductor Alan Gilbert
Programme
James Oliverio
Concerto for timpani and orchestra No. 3 / Konzert für Pauke und Streicher
– Interval –
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 6 in A minor
