Organ builder Philipp Klais and his team invested some 25,000 man-hours in building the Elbphilharmonie organ. A visit to the workshop of the family firm in Bonn.
What does the organ have in common with a barber’s chair? And why are there so many pipes? These and other questions are answered in six entertaining episodes by Thomas Cornelius, who also shows what the Elbphilharmonie organ is capable of.
Brit Wayne Marshall can play church music and jazz, Bach and Broadway – and he is a world-class improviser. On 2 November he created live music based on themes by Ludwig van Beethoven and Leonard Bernstein.
Organists from all over the world are queueing up to play on the Elbphilharmonie organ. They can be heard live in the »Simply Organ« series. Among their number is Wayne Marshall with modern and late-Romantic works and the fantastic Iveta Apkalna, titular organist at the Elbphilharmonie.
»Contemporary composers should write for this fantastic organ!« Iveta Apkalna has been pursuing this vision since the Elbphilharmonie was opened. One highlight: the first performance of Pēteris Vasks’s »Veni Domine«. Moving, spiritual music by one of today’s most often-performed composers.
Eight and a half hours playing time, 300 A3 pages of score, difficulty level: unplayable. The Organ Symphony No. 2 by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, a composer of mixed Parsi-English ancestry, is nothing short of an imposition – and a truly mad masterpiece. British organist Kevin Bowyer risks a performance of this experimental work at the Elbphilharmonie.
She is a »true shining light«, the face of the Elbphilharmonie organ: Iveta Apkalna is one of the world’s leading organists. She was responsible for testing the Elbphilharmonie organ, has given many acclaimed concerts here, and has infected concertgoers with her own enthusiasm. Her constant companion is a little red bag…
Titular organist Iveta Apkalna knows that chocolate warms the heart. This prompted her to create her own personal box of chocolates containing six musical titbits: favourite pieces that warm the mind and the soul. From 5 November on, discover a new piece every week.
»I feel very much at home in this large, round hall, where people look at you from all directions,« says Iveta Apkalna. »It’s like being in a huge living room.« She recorded the iridescent work »Lux aeterna« by her countryman Aivars Kalējs in the Grand Hall.
The Iranian-Austrian star cellist reflects on his cultural heritage, his musical journey and his passion for film music (in German).
#Interview#Podcast#Talk
