Kent Nagano / Marius Urba / Barbara Bode / Manuel Mischel / Gregor Moser

»Nature knows no standstill; true art walks side by side with it.« Beethoven was convinced of this, yet his groundbreaking compositions presented an enormous challenge for his successors. Schumann was determined to write symphonies, but only felt capable of doing so after discovering the unpublished manuscript of Schubert’s »Great C major« Symphony in Vienna. It clearly seemed feasible to him that merging the classical tradition with the world of Romanticism was possible indeed. In only four days in 1841, Schumann sketched out his first symphony – and remarked that the work was »born in a spirit of fire« as well as »in that springtime urge which seems to overwhelm people even in their old age and anew every year«. Aziza Sadikova also engages with these role models, leaving behind impressive compositions. In 2024, our guest conductor Kent Nagano conducted the world premiere of her piece »Farbenzeiten« in Berlin: it is an exciting rendition of Vivaldi's famous cycle of the »Four Seasons«. A glimpse into the past, but with today’s orchestral possibilities and many instrumental surprises: for in the creative process, the Uzbek-German composer reflected on what life was like back then in the Baroque era, for instance in fashion or architecture. By weaving in everyday sounds, she seeks to whisk listeners away into a dream world – and regarding the movement within the work, she says that during this journey through time, it is as though Vivaldi himself »simply tempts us to go further« and takes the audience »into a rich musical tapestry of sounds.«