Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Rolls-Royce Among Orchestras
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is regarded as one of the best in the world – it is often listed alongside the Berlin Philharmonic as one of the German representatives on the lists of critics’ favourites. And although the orchestra was moulded into what it is today by chief conductors such as Rafael Kubelik and Lorin Maazel, maestro Mariss Jansons has taken the sound identity to another, higher level. »For me as a conductor it’s like driving a Rolls-Royce. This orchestra can, quite simply, do everything,« says Jansons, who has been conducting the prestigious ensemble with brilliance and enthusiasm since 2003.
The Latvian conductor performs with the Munich-based orchestra in two concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, and he brings with him in »Also sprach Zarathustra« a work by his favourite composer Richard Strauss. The orchestra also performs Gustav Mahler’s Seventh Symphony in the new edition by the International Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft.
Bookended by these two concerts with Jansons is Brahms’s »A German Requiem«. Taking to the conductor’s console that evening is Dutch star Bernard Haitink, who has been conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for almost 30 years and who is now, as he approaches his 90th birthday, one of the most respected figures of the scene.