Lang Lang and the Berlin Philharmonic: Music from Another Planet Under Paavo Järvi
Lang Lang and the Berlin Philharmonic: Music from Another Planet
Under Paavo Järvi, the Berlin Philharmonic and pianist Lang Lang celebrate music like never before.
The Berlin Philharmonic, under Paavo Järvi, together with Lang Lang, delivered music from another planet on Thursday evening. Lang Lang, the world-renowned star, transformed the seemingly unplayable passages in Ravel's Piano Concerto into melodies. The pianist and the youthful, energetic Philharmonic musicians eschewed any showmanship and constructed a soundscape that transcended all genre boundaries. With Liszt's intimately played Consolation in E major, Lang Lang transitioned to Hans Rott's First Symphony, a key work of the High Romantic era.
The work of the Viennese composer, who died in a state of mental derangement at the age of only 26, became the foundation of Gustav Mahler's oeuvre. Rott himself never heard the work; it was premiered more than a century after his death in distant Cincinnati. Several recordings have since been made, including one by Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra's then general manager and now manager of the Berlin Philharmonic, Andrea Zietzschmann, championed this recording. However, the work has never been heard quite like this performance in Berlin. Thanks to Järvi's masterful performance practice, the Philharmonic presented the symphony as a monolith, overshadowing much that came before and after.
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