Wiener Philharmoniker / Adès
Wednesday
30
March
2022
19:30
Großer Saal
Presented by
Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft
Discovering undreamed-of worlds
Thomas Adès, on the podium of the Vienna Philharmonic, combines the multifaceted developments of 20th century music with one of his own most successful works, the »Totentanz«.
To this he combines »Three Orchestral Pieces« by Alban Berg. They offer extremely descriptive music, as does Leoš Janáček's Rhapsody for Orchestra »Taras Bulba,« based on a story by Gogol. Thematically, Adès' 40-minute »Totentanz« follows Janáček's Kaleidoscope of the Passions as well as the second piece from Berg's Opus 6, titled »Reigen« in reference to Schnitzler's drama. The German text of Adès' Todesreigen goes back to Middle Low German rhyming verses and the corresponding pictures on canvas in the Marienkirche in Lübeck.
The versatile musician by no means believes he is asking too much of his audience. »People don't want to get what they expect anyway,« Thomas Adès is convinced. »They want to discover worlds they would not have guessed they wanted to experience.«