Germany Dresden Music Competition 2024 [9] – Worth, Rózsa, Williams, Rózsa and Tchaikovsky: Daniel Hope (violin), Jan Vogler (cello), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Anna Rakitina (conductor). Frauenkirche, Dresden, 28.5.2024. (MC)
Florence Worth – ‘Adoration’ (arr. for string orchestra by Peter Simcich)
Miklós Rózsa – Prelude and Love Theme from movie Spellbound (1945) (organized for violin and orchestra by Paul Bateman); Sinfonia Concertante for violin, cello and orchestra, Op.29
John Williams – Theme from movie Schindler’s Listing (1993) (arr. for cello and orchestra)
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No.5 in E minor, Op.64 (1888)
Held within the spectacular Frauenkirche, Dresden, this felt like two separate concert events from the visiting Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO Berlin). The primary half served as a tribute to the movie music of Hollywood and the second half was given over to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5, a key work of the Romantic repertoire.
Hungarian American composer Miklós Rózsa was awarded three Oscars for his movie work, his best-known rating being Ben-Hur (1959). On this live performance Rózsa was represented by two works, the primary ‘Prelude and Love Theme’ from his rating to Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological thriller Spellbound (1945). Soloist Daniel Hope performed Paul Bateman’s association for violin and orchestra. Within the violin’s higher register Hope was in his aspect with the meltingly stunning love theme.
Out of Queens, New York Metropolis, John Williams is America’s most profitable residing composer of movie music and the recipient of quite a few awards. Doubtless his best-known rating was from George Lucas’s blockbuster movie Star Wars (1977) plus others comparable to, Jaws, Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones. Steven Spielberg’s epic WWII movie Schindler’s Listing (1993) in regards to the Nazi’s genocide of Jews was an amazing success, undoubtedly assisted by John Williams’s elegiac rating. Right here cellist Jan Vogler performed the much-loved ‘Theme’ from Schindler’s Listing in an association for cello and orchestra. Performed with appreciable expression, Vogler succeeded in heightening the strain of this heart-rending rating.
Rózsa’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin, cello and orchestra was written in 1958 for the pair of Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky, but the esteemed duo by no means did carry out the piece. A tough work to deliver off in live performance Hope and Vogler noticed this as a detailed dialogue not at all times a delicate one. Utilizing unique Hungarian folks themes, the center motion a theme and set of 5 nicely differentiated variations, got here off particularly nicely. Clearly feeding off one another, the efficiency of Hope and Vogler was a gathering of minds. Time appeared simply to fly by, and the way the viewers cheered and cheered.
Not impressed by movie music, a rediscovered work from Florence Worth opened the live performance. Worth a former pupil of the New England Conservatory of Music has change into the primary African American feminine composer to attain nationwide acclaim. Written within the Nineteen Fifties and thought misplaced ‘Adoration’ a chunk for organ was discovered amongst Worth’s papers in 2009. We heard the association of ‘Adoration’ ready for string orchestra by Peter Simcich. Moscow born conductor Anna Rakitina handled the efficiency with care and sincerity.
After the interval Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony took centre stage. A extremely private work, Tchaikovsky was experiencing a deep melancholy that knocked his confidence and was feeling bodily unwell when commencing work on the symphony. Nonetheless preying on his thoughts was the blended reception given to his Fourth Symphony a decade earlier. Premiered in 1888 in Saint Petersburg, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony acquired appreciable acclaim, but the composer nonetheless had misgivings although most had been unfounded.
Within the Fifth the excellent enjoying of the DSO Berlin underneath Anna Rakitina evoked a voyage that commenced within the shadows and concluded with the hovering gentle of redemption. The orchestra will know this work nicely and it felt and regarded as if Rakitina was guiding with empathy fairly than issuing instructions. The enjoying was unified, and the vary of expression achieved was extensive. Contemplating the acoustic of the Frauenkirche could be quirky the orchestral sound felt nicely targeted, and the woodwind and brass sections excelled.
The primary half of this Frauenkirche live performance that includes Daniel Hope and Jan Vogler supplied super leisure. Within the second half the viewers had been handled to a extremely satisfying efficiency of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.
Michael Cookson
