The concert of the New Philharmonic in Munich in the Loisachhalle in Wolfratshaus had symbolic power: Beethoven's heroic symphony "Eroica" was played.
Wolfratshausen -
The cultural scene was almost in a coma for six months, until the Neue Philharmonie Munich - after developing a hygiene concept - kissed the musical life in the rafting city again.
Regardless of whether it was coincidence or intent: it was symbolic that the up-and-coming orchestra, with music students from all over Europe, defied the coronavirus with Ludwig van Beethoven's heroic symphony "Eroica" when it performed in the Loisachhalle on Friday evening.
In 1804 the brilliant composer wrote his work
In 1804 the self-confident genius Ludwig van Beethoven showed his true colors when he wrote his "Eroica" in the Habsburg surveillance state.
In it the free spirit paid homage to the ideals of the French Revolution.
It was a musical act of liberation without a model or counterpart that fell from the sky like a meteor.
It's no longer about the Beethoven year of remembrance, which this composer doesn't need at all, whose omnipresent work with groundbreaking ideas broke the rules of music.
The current issue is whether and how one can even perform concerts again.
"The last few months have been hell for us," said conductor Johannes Zahn and appealed to the audience in the Loisachhalle: "Tell everyone outside, it's possible!"
Conductor Zahn created a dimension of depth
Zahn is 30 - four years younger than Beethoven at the time the work was written.
The conductor immediately found the tense intensity for the downright intimidating size and shocking ideas of this music.
He created depths for their tremendous impact, went into the details and yet developed great traction.
It got under your skin how he guided the young musicians through the four monumental movements and brought them to emotional explosions.
The orchestra was in very good shape and motivated to the very ends.
It impressed with a flawless purity of intonation, hardly afforded any wobbles or weak moments.
All groups produced a multi-faceted sound that was silky and warm and could increase to glowing fortissimo.
This "Eroica" sounded modern through and through, still carried the element of the mysterious and uncertain.
Before that, Beethoven's third piano concerto, which was written at the same time as “Eroica” and has a similar keynote, unlike the lyrical fourth and the glamorous fifth: At the premiere in Vienna, the composer (and probably also the best pianist of his time) improvised the solo part because he had not yet composed the piano part.
It was played in the Loisachhalle by the pianist Michail Lifits, who comes from Central Asian Uzbekistan and came to Germany at the age of 16.
When it comes to its homeland, one thinks of steppes and exotic trading centers, sheep and silkworms, cotton and carpets.
Now also to this young man who is another star among the many great piano talents from the former Soviet republics.
Pianist Lifits turned out to be a good pick
Lifits turned out to be a good choice for the Neue Philharmonie.
He came to the Loisach city with the recommendation of the seldom awarded first prize at the international Busoni competition, with which he joins the famous Martha Argerich.
Lifit's nuanced playing is based on his special pianistic class, but it also has musical depth, is colorful, sensitive and does justice to Beethoven's wild greatness.
The greatly reduced number of listeners in the Loisachhalle was due to the well-known hygiene regulations on Friday evening.
Otherwise this excellent concert would have deserved far more than the permitted 100 listeners.
Everyone who was able to secure an admission ticket rewarded the participants with long applause and loud shouts of bravo.
Music lovers have to wait even longer for a symphonic concert in the Tölzer Kurhaus.
As board member Franz Diemer confirmed in an interview with our newspaper over the weekend, the Holzkirchner Symphoniker have canceled their autumn concert with Mozart's clarinet concerto and Schubert's symphony No. 4, which was planned for November 22nd.
Diemer: "Our rehearsals continue, but we don't want to take the risk in the Tölzer Kurhaus because of the cramped conditions there."
Rainer Bannier