The third evening of the Robert Schumann Philharmonic presents composers of the 20th century
“The audience is not only interested in the external qualities of music, but also in the psychological content of the subject and the plot, and if this content is poor, then the audience loses interest. I stick to it: the music finds its audience, if it is written with conviction and contains an idea.” – The Volga German composer Alfred Schnittke (1934 – 1998), who wrote these lines, cannot be denied the conviction and content of what he created, just as little as his colleagues Alexander Scriabin (1872 – 1915) and the Swede Kurt Atterberg (1887 – 1974).
So there must be other reasons why the third symphony concert of the season with the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Chemnitz, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday in the local town hall, was characterized by one thing in particular, in addition to the music of the three named: From numerical reluctance of the audience. According to theater spokeswoman Uta Thomsen, around 620 listeners witnessed the concert, which was repeated 24 hours later, in the 1,800-person town hall on Wednesday evening, with general music director Guillermo García Calvo conducting and acting as a soloist. Without knowing how many people attended the concert on Thursday – it had not yet started at the time of going to press – one might think that one concert date instead of two would be more than enough to satisfy the interest of the Chemnitz concert audience. “We are observing this, but we hope that it will develop positively over the course of the season,” said Thomsen when asked.
Nevertheless, it is probably the case that the Chemnitz audience sticks to the motto: “Nothing new!” – and the concert offered a lot of that. The evening’s introductory “Poème de l’Extase” by Alexander Scriabin has apparently never been performed in southwest Saxony in this century – a highly expressive, approximately 20-minute orchestral work based on contrasts of lyricism and drama, which the musicians and demands a high degree of concentration from the conductor in its abrupt turns – and certainly from the listener as well. Under Calvo’s direction, the orchestra brought the work down the ramp as a coherent and inwardly touching whole – a piece that in the dramaturgy of such an evening is almost too opulent for the introduction. This was compensated for by the second program item of the evening: the concerto for piano and string orchestra by the aforementioned Schnittke, written in the 1970s. From the grand piano, the Spaniard conducted the cabinet piece, which was spiced up with many finesse, quotations and pitfalls in the solo part, in a way that was well worth listening to – like the previous item on the programme, not necessarily a work that releases the listener into the break with catchy tunes, in any case with the confirmation that the string section of the Robert Schumann Philharmonic is one of the best that classical instrumental music has to offer in Saxony.
The work that was played after the break was among the best that the world composer scene had to offer around 100 years ago: the 6th symphony by the Swede Kurt Atterberg emerged in 1928 as the winning entry in an international composers’ competition on the 100th anniversary of Franz Schubert’s death – a work overflowing with joy of playing, wit, fun with the masking and unusual ideas, which, again performed by the whole, large orchestra including two harps, offered the brilliant conclusion of the evening.
And the question left behind, why don’t more people have the courage to face new impressions in a concert, open to everything that is to come, which might also unleash completely new emotions in them. The orchestra’s attempt to offer these opportunities is worthy of all credit.
The concert will be repeated this Thursday at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the box office.