Of earthly love and the heavenly life
1st First Night subscription concert
Works by Schumann and Mahler
Music about life with all its hopes and disappointments, abrasions and ecstasies is presented by Principal Guest Conductor Tarmo Peltokoski at the start of the new concert year, alongside Israeli soprano Chen Reiss, who made her brilliant Chamber Philharmonic debut at the ›Summer in Lesmona‹ in 2022. In ›Frauenliebe und Leben‹, Schumann uses eight of Chamisso’s poems to trace a woman’s path: her first time falling in love, the emotional rush of love, the joys of marriage and motherhood. However, the early death of her lover brings an abrupt end. In contrast, the folk song ›Der Himmel hängt voll Geigen‹ suggests a glimpse into a »heavenly life« Mahler was inspired by the text from ›Des Knaben Wunderhorn‹ for the finale of his Symphony No. 4, a score that draws an alternating cycle of bliss and doubt, ironic distance and blissful dreamlike forlornness with unusual transparency of sound. In the end, the »heavenly joys« prove to be very earthly and Mahler’s concept of paradise a radical commentary on the course of the world.