Concert information
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Herbert Blomstedt sees Anton Bruckner as “the greatest symphonist since Beethoven”. The conductor is recognised worldwide as an authority on this music, acclaimed for his affinity to Bruckner’s distinctive, darkly-glowing tonal language and its powerful climaxes. Herbert Blomstedt now addresses the composer’s last symphony, in which Bruckner bids a very personal farewell to the world. In the concert’s first half, Leif Ove Andsnes is the soloist in Mozart’s festive Piano Concerto No. 21.
Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker
Herbert Blomstedt conductor
Leif Ove Andsnes piano
Programme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
Interval
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 9 in D minor
Main Auditorium
47 to 149 €
Introduction
19:15
Series G: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
47 to 149 €
Introduction
19:15
Series E: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
47 to 149 €
Introduction
18:15
Series F: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Beware of acoustic incense
Herbert Blomstedt in conversation about Anton Bruckner
For Herbert Blomstedt, Anton Bruckner is “the greatest symphonist since Beethoven”. In our interview from the 2021/22 season, he provides an insight into his lifelong preoccupation with the composer. He outlines Bruckner’s spiritual and tonal world, which was inspired to a large extent by the view of the Austrian Alps. We learn how to find Bruckner’s soul in the symphonies and why acoustic incense should be used sparingly in their performance.
Biographies
Herbert Blomstedt
“Being a conductor is a good profession to grow old in, because it’s always a challenge – and you need challenges as you get older,” says Herbert Blomstedt, born in 1927, who has worked with the Berliner Philharmoniker for 48 years. The Swedish-American conductor is known for his humility and deference to the musical work, and also for his unpretentious charm. “I see my job as ensuring that the music says as much as possible," he says, "and that I say as little as possible.” Even if he has conducted a work many times, he always reconsiders his approach: “I make a lot of notes, because I study the scores very carefully, so that every note has its own special meaning.”
Herbert Blomstedt, who trained in Uppsala, New York, Darmstadt and Basel, made his debut conducting the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 1954. Over the course of his career, he was chief conductor in San Francisco, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Dresden, and other cities. His former orchestras and the Vienna Philharmonic have made him an honorary conductor. He still regularly conducts the orchestras, which he describes as his “family”. Blomstedt is convinced that there can be no absolute certainty in musical matters: “Self-doubt always accompanies me. Self-doubt is good. The opposite, too much certainty, is fatal in art.”
Leif Ove Andsnes
When Leif Ove Andsnes, a pianist of “masterful elegance”, sits down at the piano, “extraordinary things happen,” writes the New York Times. As one of the “most gifted musicians of his generation” (Wall Street Journal), he has been acclaimed by listeners around the world in orchestral concerts and recitals for his technical assurance and direct interpretations, as well as for his clear, poetic and colourful playing: “I play an instrument where hammers strike the strings," Andsnes says. "If you look at it objectively, the piano is a kind of percussion instrument – but a wonderful one that can be used in so many different ways.”
The Norwegian pianist performs with leading orchestras and gives solo recitals in the world’s major concert halls, including New York, London, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. He is also an enthusiastic chamber musician and founding director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival in Norway. In his piano recitals, he always strives for a successful mix of the familiar and the exotic: “My teacher Jiří Hlinka really encouraged me to explore the unknown realms of the repertoire," he explains. "I’m always amazed at how many masterpieces there are still to discover.” Of his 50 or so recordings, which cover the repertoire from Bach to the present day, more than a fifth have been nominated for a Grammy.
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