The terror of games: RIAS Chamber Choir and Ensemble musikFabrik at Musikfest Berlin

By Dan Wang, 18 September 2013

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Reviewed at Philharmonie: Kammermusiksaal, Berlin on 14 September 2013

Janáček, Ríkadla (Nursery Rhymes)

Kagel, 10 Marches to Miss the Victory (nos. 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 and 4)

Kagel, Rrrrrrr... (no. 3 "Resurrexit Dominus" and no. 5 "Rex tremendae")

Kagel, Verborgene Reime

Stravinsky, Les Noces (1919 version for two soloists, choir, pianola, 2 cymbaloms, harmonium and percussion; completed by Theo Verbey.)

Ensemble Musikfabrik

RIAS Kammerchor Berlin

James Wood, Choirmaster / chorus director

Anu Komsi, Soprano

Nigel Robson, Tenor

Andreas Fischer, Bass

Rex Lawson, Pianola

Venetian splendour in Berlin: a heartfelt New Year’s celebration

Mengguang Huang, 1st January

Cavalli’s Messa concertata and Venetian polychoral masterpieces shine in Berlin’s Philharmonie, with a heartfelt, immersive New Year’s experience of ritual grandeur and warmth.

*****

Absolute Stravinsky, absolute Iván Fischer!

Zenaida des Aubris, 13th March

The Konzerthaus Berlin devotes a six-day festival to a single composer under a single conductor.

*****

A Requiem to soothe troubled souls at NOSPR in Katowice

David Karlin, 17th May

Debussy's early cantata is played with verve by NOSPR but exposes its composer's inexperience; Mansurian's memorial to genocide shows off the exceptional musicianship of the RIAS Kammerchor.

***11

Bach's Mass in B minor at the Konzerthaus

Christie Franke, 7th December

Andrea Marcon leads the Runfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor in Bach's Mass in B minor.

**111

CPE Bach played with gusto by the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin

Christie Franke, 15th June

The Rias-Kammerchor and the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin perform pieces by J.S. Bach, Handel and C.P.E. Bach.

***11

Purcell and Mahler at the Berlin Philharmonie

David Karlin, 7th April

Last night was my first ever visit to the Berlin Philharmonie, and it couldn't have been more eagerly awaited: if you'd asked me to name the work I most wanted to see here, it would have been Rattle conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in Mahler 5.

*****

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Dan Wang

Dan Wang is a graduate student in music history and theory at the University of Chicago.