Yearning for Russia / Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Fri 15.12.
8.00 p.m.
Bremen
·Sendesaal

Yearning for Russia

3rd Hansa Subscription II Concert

Works by Wagner, Prokofjev and Brahms

»Time and again, I have to re-accustom myself to the atmosphere of my fatherland,« wrote Sergei Prokofiev, »I have to experience real winters again and a spring that can break out from one moment to the next.« The yearning for Russia had occupied him for some time. It grew especially strong while Prokofiev was living in Paris and visiting different countries for concerts. This balancing act between cosmopolitanism and homesickness was nowhere as evident as in his Second Violin Concerto composed in 1935. Viktoria Mullova has for many years been a very highly appreciated soloist with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. After an almost four-year break, she’s now back – with precisely Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto.

Programme

- Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
- From Siegfried WWV 86 C: Forest Murmurs
- Sergej Prokofiev (1891–1953)
- Violin concerto No. 2 in G minor op. 63
- Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
- Symphony No. 4 in E minor op. 98

Conductor

Paavo Järvi

Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, his only German orchestra, since 2004. One highlight of the collaboration were the celebrated concerts of the Beethoven cycle, which received critical acclaim worldwide. Järvi received numerous awards for the recordings, including the ›Echo Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹ and the prestigious ›Annual Prize of the German Record Critics‹.

Following the Beethoven project, he and the orchestra tackled the symphonic works of Schumann and Brahms, which received similarly enthusiastic reviews. Paavo Järvi is also Principal Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Advisor to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Järvi Summer Festival in Pärnu, Estonia, and since 2019/20 Artistic Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He regularly makes appearances as guest conductor with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, the Staatskappelle Dresden and the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago and the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, he was named ›Artist of the Year‹ by the renowned British magazine Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason. In 2019, he received the ›Opus Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹.

Violin

Viktoria Mullova

Viktoria Mullova studied at the Central Music School of Moscow and the Moscow Conservatoire. Her extraordinary talent captured international attention when she won first prize at the 1980 Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982 which was followed, in 1983, by her dramatic and much publicized defection to the West. She has since appeared with most of the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors and at the major international festivals.

Her curiosity spans the breadth of musical development from baroque and classical right up to the most contemporary influences from the world of fusion and experimental music. This rich musical diversity has been celebrated in several high-profile residences, including London’s Southbank, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Musikfest Bremen and more. Viktoria has a great affinity with Bach and his work makes up a large part of her recording catalogue. Her recording of Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas represents a significant milestone in Viktoria’s personal journey into this music.

Mullova’s extensive discography has attracted many prestigious awards. She either plays on her ›Jules Falk‹ 1723 Stradivarius or a Guadagnini violin.

Conductor