Concert information
Musikfest Berlin
Info
Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony came to define the late Romantic symphony; its dark, dramatic sound world and innovative thematic development extended its influence well into the modern era. Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker pair Brahms’ work with the Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s expressive Oboe Concerto, with our principal oboist Albrecht Mayer as soloist. Pascal Dusapin’s powerful Exeo for orchestra completes the programme.
Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker
Kirill Petrenko conductor
Albrecht Mayer oboe
Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Programme
Pascal Dusapin
Exeo, Solo No. 5 for orchestra
Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra
Albrecht Mayer oboe
Interval
Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, op. 68
Additional information
Duration ca. 2 hours (incl. 20 minutes interval)
Main Auditorium
39 to 111 €
Introduction
19:15
Series A: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
39 to 111 €
Introduction
19:15
Series G: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
39 to 111 €
Introduction
19:15
Series I: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
“Upbeat”
Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 1
Programme notes and rehearsal footage
“Upbeat”: Brahms’s Symphony No. 1
Beethoven cast a long shadow. Many Romantic composers were intimidated; how could anyone else write symphonies after his? In our new episode of Upbeat, First Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley explains how Johannes Brahms faced off this challenge with his First Symphony. Exclusive rehearsal footage with Kirill Petrenko also shows how the orchestra, together with its chief conductor, finds fresh perspectives on this traditional work.
Behind the music
Albrecht Mayer
Behind the music: Albrecht Mayer
During this year’s festival tour with the Berliner Philharmoniker, principal oboist Albrecht Mayer took on a special challenge: Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Oboe Concerto. It is a work that pushes all participants to their limits – technically, physically, and musically. In our video, Albrecht Mayer explains how he prepared for this challenge, what it is about the piece that makes him feel like a snake charmer, and why he is grateful to Kirill Petrenko for “ruining his summer.”
To fresh woods, and pastures new
Brahms’s long road to the symphony
Every Romantic composer was faced with the question of how they could continue to write symphonies when Beethoven had already said all that there was to say on the subject. Their answers were many and varied. Several continued, undaunted, to write works based on traditional models, but most of these symphonies have now been forgotten. Brahms, for his part, chose a more laborious route: He reinvented the symphony.
Biographies
Kirill Petrenko
Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the 2019/20 season. Born in Omsk in Siberia, he received his training first in his home town and later in Austria. He established his conducting career in opera with positions at the Meininger Theater and the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2013 to 2020, Kirill Petrenko was general music director of Bayerische Staatsoper. He has also made guest appearances at the world’s leading opera houses, including Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra national in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Bayreuth Festival. Moreover, he has conducted the major international symphony orchestras – in Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Chicago, Cleveland and Israel.
Since his debut in 2006, a variety of programmatic themes have emerged in his work together with the Berliner Philharmoniker. These include work on the orchestra’s core Classical-Romantic repertoire, for example with symphonies by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms. Unjustly forgotten composers such as Josef Suk and Erich Wolfgang Korngold are another of Kirill Petrenko’s interests. Russian works are also highlighted, with performances of Tchaikovsky’s operas Mazeppa, Iolanta and The Queen of Spades attracting particular attention recently.
Albrecht Mayer
Albrecht Mayer, principal oboist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, is one of the most sought-after oboists in the world. His sound ideal is inspired by the Baroque oboe, which, as he says, serves as an “instrumental ‘vox humana’ across all registers, offering a wonderfully warm tone.” Mayer draws inspiration both from singers like Fritz Wunderlich and from instrumentalists like Daniel Barenboim ("when he plays a Mozart piano concerto"). As a child, Mayer received piano and recorder lessons as well as vocal training, before beginning the oboe at the age of ten. His professional career began in 1990 as principal oboist of the Bamberg Symphony, and in 1992 he joined the Berliner Philharmoniker.
To fully realise his artistic vision, Mayer, who has won multiple Echo Awards, founded the ensemble New Seasons. His CD On Mozart’s Trail remained in the German classical charts for months, while the album New Seasons, featuring Handel transcriptions, even reached the German pop charts. As a soloist, Albrecht Mayer has collaborated with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He is also an enthusiastic chamber musician, having performed with partners such as Hélène Grimaud, Leif Ove Andsnes, and the late Lars Vogt.
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