| Staatskapelle Berlin | |
| Daniel Barenboim | Conductor |
At the helm of the Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim was celebrated for
broad, rich repertoire that encompassed the complete symphonic and operatic works of selected composers. Besides all of the operas of Richard Wagner, he led the orchestra in the complete symphonic works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann. At the festival FESTSTAGE in 2007, Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez together performed all of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler.
The music of Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) is no exception in this case – the Staatskapelle Berlin recorded a complete cycle of his symphonies to great acclaim in 2010. The German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up their performances as follows: “Both Bruckner’s faith in God, which is expressed directly in the chorale of the Fifth, and his pessimistic view of this world go hand in hand in Barenboim’s conception.” The conductor’s experience with operatic music is described as “a dramatic instrumental battle between Bruckner’s God and the Devil – between Heaven and Hell – but without the equilibrium of this monumental work being disturbed work being.”
At what is only historically its second appearance at Prague Spring (the first time was in 1967), the Staatskapelle Berlin will offer listeners the original version of this truly magnificent opus.
