Performers:
- Nicholas Rimmer, piano
- Thomas Bloch, ondes Martenot
- GMD Andrea Sanguineti, conductor
- New Lusatian Philharmonic.
The concert is held under the patronage of the Mayor of Zgorzelec and the Mayor of Görlitz.
TICKETS:
- PLN 60 – regular
- PLN 30 – reduced (pensioners; people with disabilities; unemployed people)
- PLN 10 – student rate (school pupils; university students).
GROUP TICKETS at a special price (from 5 people), by prior arrangement with the organiser: e-mail: music@themusicpoint.net; tel.: 0048 880211452 or 0049 (0)3581 661269
ADVANCE TICKET SALES:
- www.abilet.pl
- Sports and Recreation Centre | Maratońska Street 2, Zgorzelec
- Municipal Cultural Centre | Parkowa Street 1, Zgorzelec
MORE INFORMATION AND TICKET RESERVATIONS:
- https://www.g-h-t.de/pl
- music@themusicpoint.net
- tel.: 0048 880211452 or 0049 (0)3581 661269.
About the work:
In autumn 2015, the New Lusatian Philharmonic, under the patronage of music director Andrea Sanguineti, devotes itself to a work of contemporary music that far exceeds the usual framework of its concert series: Olivier Messiaen’s “Turangalîla-Symphony”. In this way, the orchestra makes a significant contribution to research into the work of this French composer, who in 1940 was imprisoned for nine months in the Stalag VIII A prisoner-of-war camp in former Görlitz-Moys (today: Zgorzelec Ujazd).
Olivier Messiaen composed the “Turangalîla-Symphony” for solo piano, ondes Martenot and large orchestra on commission from Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Its premiere took place on 2 December 1949 under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. The ten-movement symphony is one of the composer’s best-known works and, after more than 300 performances, has become a permanent part of the standard repertoire of large orchestras. Musically, Messiaen oscillates between extremes: sweet Hollywood sounds encounter bruyant hardness. In this monumental work, he appears as a master juggling rhythm, sound and colour: the music is exceptionally rich in a wide variety of sounds; calm, melodic passages sometimes alternate with fast, rhythmic ones; at times, the tonal language is coloured by exotic elements inspired by the Balinese Gamelan orchestra; and at other times, the solo piano imitates birdsong. The music gains a distinctive colour from the ondes Martenot, whose extraordinary range extends from delicate piano-like sounds to penetrating siren tones. Through these means, Messiaen conjures up a fantastical India filled with vibrant euphoria and uninhibited sensuality.
The name “Turangalîla” comes from Sanskrit and was chosen both for its sound and its meaning. Its two halves, filled with the energy of music and Messiaen’s fascination with time and rhythm, joined together mean: “Turanga” – “tempo”, while “lîla” means “vitality, the play of creation, rhythm and movement”.
Like all his works, this one too was clearly written in chaos. The “Turangalîla-Symphony” is based on rational, disciplined work and represents a survey of innovative compositional techniques that Messiaen had developed and systematised by the mid-1940s. Here, above all, it is rhythm that goes far beyond its traditional function as the support of melodic sequences and, in itself, overshadows the barbaric force of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”.
Artists’ biographies:
Nicholas Rimmer, piano
Born in England, pianist Nicholas Rimmer is known and highly regarded as an outstanding chamber musician and accompanist. He studied piano at the Hochschule in Hanover with Christopher Oakden and musicology at the University of Cambridge. Rimmer received the German Music Competition prize twice: in 2006 as a piano partner
and in 2010 with the Leibniz Trio. He has performed at renowned festivals, including Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Aldeburgh, Schwetzingen, Ludwigsburg and Lockenhaus, and has appeared on the stages of London’s Wigmore Hall, the Gasteig in Munich, Zurich’s Tonhalle and the Berlin Philharmonie.
Thomas Bloch, ondes Martenot
Specialising in rare instruments, musician Thomas Bloch studied the ondes Martenot with Jeanne Loriod at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won first prize in the instrument class. He still teaches at the institution today and is also a professor of musicology at the University of Strasbourg. The repertoire of this internationally renowned soloist includes both classical and modern music, from songs, rock, opera and film music to ballet. Today, this versatile musician’s performances can be heard on more than 100 different recordings.
New Lusatian Philharmonic
The New Lusatian Philharmonic was established on 1 August 1996 through the merger of the Lusatian Philharmonic and the Görlitz Philharmonic. Each season, the New Lusatian Philharmonic presents seven different concert-symphonic programmes, each performed in five cities across Lusatia and Lower Silesia, thereby reaching approximately 2,000 listeners in every concert series. After the closure of the City Hall in Görlitz, the New Lusatian Philharmonic performs at the theatre in Görlitz (504 seats), the theatre in Bautzen and the theatre in Zittau. Its repertoire ranges from major symphonists such as Mahler and Shostakovich through Schumann, Grieg and Beethoven to contemporary composers and international crossover projects. Church music and contemporary music of the 20th and 21st centuries hold a special place in the orchestra’s output.
Andrea Sanguineti, conductor
After his podium debut with the State Orchestra of Lower Saxony in Hanover in 2008, he repeatedly assumed musical direction at various opera theatres in Germany for numerous new productions and revivals. His broad repertoire includes operettas such as “Im Weißen Rössl” (“The White Horse Inn”) and “The Merry Widow”, as well as operas by Rossini, Verdi, Donizetti and Puccini from his homeland, through to German music dramas, including Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”.
Andrea studied piano and composition at the Conservatory in Genoa and conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory in Milan. There, at just 23 years of age, he received his diploma as one of the youngest emerging talents in the orchestral conducting department.
Messiaen and Zgorzelec:
On the south-eastern outskirts of the twin city of Görlitz-Zgorzelec lies a special historic site that had long been forgotten but has returned to public awareness in recent years: the former Stalag VIII A prisoner-of-war camp. Between 1939 and 1945, 120,000 prisoners of war from countries including Poland, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were registered at Stalag VIII A; an estimated 12,000 of them did not survive. Many of the prisoners were assigned to labour camps, thereby significantly influencing the character of Görlitz.
That music unites people and can ease pain and suffering is demonstrated by Olivier Messiaen, who during his imprisonment at Stalag VIII A composed “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” (“Quartet for the End of Time”) and performed it for the first time on 15 January 1941 in the camp’s theatre barrack together with three other prisoners. Today, the quartet is one of the best-known and most frequently performed musical works of the 20th century. The fact that Messiaen composed it under extremely primitive conditions as a prisoner of Stalag VIII A further enhances the work’s prestige.
In December 2004, the idea was born to create at this site, which is so important to Europe’s shared history, the Zgorzelec-Görlitz European Educational and Cultural Centre MEETINGPOINT MUSIC MESSIAEN – for children, young people, artists and musicians, as well as for everyone from the European City, the trinational region and Europe. The centre serves not only as a memorial site, but also as a platform for developing and disseminating global understanding through artistic activity, providing visitors with a place for creativity. On 15 January 2015, after many years of effort, the newly built centre opened.
In memory of all those who suffered in the camp and lived with fear but also hope, MEETINGPOINT MUSIC MESSIAEN has invited people to a special concert every year since 2008. Each year on
15 January, “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” (“Quartet for the End of Time”) is performed
at the historic site where it was created, thus recalling this special event.
The premiere of the “Turangalîla-Symphony” provides an opportunity to encounter another important work by Messiaen. To provide this extraordinary work with the necessary space, the New Lusatian Philharmonic Philharmonic is moving from the theatre in Görlitz to the stage of PGE Turów Arena in Zgorzelec (2,500 seats).
Meetingpoint Music Messiaen/ii