| Philharmonia Orchestra | |
| Esa-Pekka Salonen | Direction |
| Christian Tetzlaff | Violon |
| Rebecca Nelsen | Soprano |
£45 (premium); £36; £28; £19; £12
Weimar Berlin: Bittersweet Metropolis closes with a programme spanning the early years and the tragic end of the Weimar Republic.
Experimental, radiant, colourful – Kurt Weill’s 1924 Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, influenced by Stravinsky and his teacher Busoni, bursts with life. Tonight's soloist is Christian Tetzlaff, “the finest violinist performing before the public today” (New Yorker).
In 1934, when he was composing his opera Lulu, Alban Berg was flirting with danger, adapting what the Nazis termed a ‘degenerate’ text by Frank Wedekind and composing in a modernist style. His music was later banned and, fearful that his new opera would never be performed, Berg adapted its material as the Lulu Suite, for soprano and orchestra. The fallout from the world premiere of this luxurious, jazz-infused score was immediate for both performers and reviewers alike.
The party atmosphere of the Weimar Republic years was now over. But we finish this series with a glance back to the hope and freedom at its beginnings, a glorious, defiant dance from Paul Hindemith’s one-act opera Das Nusch-Nuschi of 1922.
