Full of verve, drama and sonority

Created: 07/06/2022 07:19

Brilliant in every respect: the "Musica Starnberg" at the concert on Sunday evening in St. Maria.

© Andrea Jaksch

The "Musica Starnberg" shone at a concert with works by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in the parish church of St. Maria.

Starnberg

– Some stars shine brighter and shorter: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) was only 38 years old to realize his musical talent.

He started out as a musical prodigy and soloist at the age of nine and wrote his first symphony at the age of 15.

16 years later he took on the symphonic cantata "Lobgesang" with Ludwig van Beethoven.

In doing so, he allayed composers' reverence for the dominance of these instrumental works combined with vocal parts in one masterpiece.

On Sunday evening, homage was paid to this epochal creation of Romanticism in the Starnberg town church.

The "Musica Starnberg" did full justice to the composer with a one and a half hour program full of verve, drama and sonority.

The fact that the rows of seats in the parish church of St. Maria were only half occupied was perhaps due to the heat and the street food festival on the church square.

Inside, both were immediately forgotten, it was pleasantly cool and the brilliant performance erased all noises from outside within seconds.

Baptism of fire for Felix Mathy

You could literally feel how much the musicians (concert master: Angelika Besch) were itching to finally be able to pull out all the stops live again.

Shortly before the 2020 Passion Concert, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic forced everyone involved to take a break.

Now they were able to shine in a double appearance with the program "In te Domine speravi".

After the performance the day before in Benediktbeuern, Sunday in Starnberg was not only the second date in a row, but also the baptism of fire for the new artistic director Felix Mathy, who only took over the reins from Ulli Schäfer, his former music teacher, in mid-2021.

However, he had a lead through his engagements as a harpsichordist and chorus singer at Musica Starnberg.

And the solidarity, the seriousness and the joy in the matter came across clearly.

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's central concern to convey the ideas of Reformed Christianity to the public is evident in the hymn "Hör mein Bitten" based on Psalm 55 and in the chorale cantata "Wer nur den Lieben Gott walten".

While these two pieces were already marked by a well-timed interplay of orchestra, choir and soloists, the bombastic body of sound and its wealth of variants came to the fore in the symphonic cantata “Lobgesang” (Symphony No. 2, Op. 52).

With the soprano soloists Teresa Boning from Herrsching and Eva Maria Summerer, two ladies were brought in who were able to assert themselves.

Nikolaus Pfannkuch (tenor) from Penzberg not only shone in the famous "guardian scene",

in which he sang his heart out in the hope of light and salvation and could be lost in a jubilant chorus.

Lightness and tragedy entered into a perfect symbiosis on this evening - supported by an excellent program that brought the motifs closer to all guests.

FREE OLIVE