Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin: Two become one

The concert on Wednesday evening in the large hall of the Philharmonie is all about dance. Under the direction of French conductor Fabien Gabel, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin invites you to a rhythm-loaded evening that makes it difficult to sit still.

In the introduction, Maurice Ravel’s declaration of love for the Viennese waltz, the “Valses nobles et sentimentales”, sounds. The eight orchestral miniatures were created in 1911/1912 as music for the ballet “Adelaȉde ou le langage des fleurs” and, despite their delicately melancholic mood, already refer to Ravel’s garish caricature of the waltz in “La Valse” from 1920. The musicians: inside raise the motivic connections between the two works, even if the “Valses nobles” are still far from the abyss.

Invitation to dance

A dance for 20 fingers is the concerto for two pianos by Francis Poulenc from 1932. The two grand pianos slowly rise from the stage recess and, pushed into one another, appear like an instrument – a fitting metaphor for the symbiotic play of the brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen , who can be heard as soloists and are guests at the DSO for the first time.

With breathtaking virtuosity, they chase each other through Poulenc’s playful labyrinth of classical music, sober minimalism, hints of cabaret and Balinese gamelan. The young Dutchmen (30 and 27) complement each other in game and body language in such a way that you think you are looking into a hall of mirrors. In the second movement, on the other hand, which Poulenc described as a “poetic play with the portrait of Mozart”, the two of them, in wide-ranging phrases in dialogue with the orchestra, carry us off into spheres of infinite calm.

Twice Salomé

Pleasurable and dark sides of the dance can be experienced after the break. With Richard Strauss’ “Dance of the Seven Veils” from his opera “Salome” (1905) and the 1913 ballet suite “La Tragédie de Salomé” by the now almost forgotten composer Florent Schmitt, two works deal with the famous “striptease” of biblical origin. The musicians of the DSO bring Strauss’ opulent soundscape of musical orientalisms and waltz sounds to life with rhythmic accuracy and transparency.

Salomé’s dance in Florent Schmitt’s ballet music ends with a natural catastrophe burying Herod’s palace. Schmitt tells the apocalyptic story in an expressive, often brute musical language that combines French and German influences and anticipates Stravinsky’s “Sacre du Printemps” with its aggressive rhythm. The noble restraint of the DSO suits the turgid works very well and allows the orchestra to sound transparent like a chamber ensemble, even in large numbers.

Source: Tagesspiegel

Share this article:

Leave a Reply

most popular