Gustavo Dudamel conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fifth

“Everything is played with equal love”
Pyotr Tchaikovsky on his guest appearance with the Berliner Philharmoniker

On 8 February 1888, Berlin witnessed a memorable concert: Pyotr Tchaikovsky conducted a programme of his own works with the newly-formed Berliner Philharmoniker. In his memoires, the composer writes warmly of his encounter with the orchestra.

“The Berliner Philharmoniker invited me to conduct a special concert made up entirely of my own compositions. Putting together the programme was not without its difficulties, since the board and I had differing opinions as to which works would best introduce me to the Berlin public. I considered – and still consider – my 1812 Overture to be a thoroughly mediocre piece, possessing purely local, patriotic significance, and suitable only for performances in Russia. But the board insisted on including it, as it had already been performed successfully on several occasions in Berlin […].”

“The Berliner Philharmoniker, alongside all its other merits, possesses a particular quality for which I can find no more fitting word than elasticity. By that I mean the ability to adapt to the scale of Berlioz or Liszt – to master the complex, multilayered orchestral textures of Berlioz as perfectly as the thundering percussion of Liszt – while also fully adjusting to the musical style of Haydn. It is easy to see why: while the Gewandhaus Orchestra focuses almost exclusively on classical repertoire, and the Liszt Association mainly performs modern works, Berlin – much like St Petersburg and Moscow – offers concerts where Haydn appears alongside Glazunov, Beethoven alongside Bizet, Glinka alongside Brahms, and everything is performed with the same love, the same enthusiasm, and the same high quality of ensemble playing.” 

“The members of the Berliner Philharmoniker are not required to perform in theatres, and are therefore neither overworked nor weary, and because they are a self-governed organisation, they perform for their own benefit and not in the service of an impresario who pockets the lion’s share of the profits. Naturally, the convergence of these favourable conditions has a very positive effect on the quality of the artistic performances. Already at the first rehearsal I was encouraged by the kind attentiveness and enthusiasm of the orchestra members, and everything went smoothly and satisfactorily from the very beginning.”

What You (Might) Not Know About Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky’s unmistakable musical voice helped shape the sound of Romanticism. But who was the man behind the glittering façade of his works? A look at some (perhaps) lesser-known sides of an artist whose life was marked by inner turmoil, personal contradictions, and financial dependence.

Biographies

Gustavo Dudamel

“The evening might go down as the most electrifying debut in the orchestra’s history,” wrote the Tagesspiegel after Gustavo Dudamel's 2008 Waldbühne concert. At the time just 27 years old, the conductor – an alumnus of Venezuela’s music education programme El Sistema and winner of the International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition – had embarked on a meteoric career that would take him to the world’s leading orchestras and opera houses. Since 2009, he has served as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and will take up the post of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from the 2026/27 season.

Felix Kammerer

Before Edward Berger’s new adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, based on Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel of the same name, Felix Kammerer was known only to theatre audiences. But the 2023 Netflix production – awarded four Oscars and hailed as one of the most successful German films to date – won the Austrian actor international acclaim for his leading role as tragic hero Paul Bäumer. Kammerer received numerous accolades for his performance, including the Nestroy Theatre Prize, the Bambi, and the German Film Award. He even made the ten-name longlist for Best Leading Actor at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. “To see my name alongside Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell on that list – that really blew me away,” he said.

Christina Landshamer

Her repertoire spans from the Baroque to contemporary music: Christina Landshamer is equally acclaimed for her interpretations of works by Bach, Brahms’s Requiem, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. A particularly spectacular production of Haydn’s Creation with the theatre collective La Fura dels Baus drew international attention in Paris and New York. She is also a frequent participant in world premieres. “I simply love analysing these very different styles in detail and translating them into equally varied vocal techniques. Because Bach is not Strauss, and Mozart is not Stravinsky.”