Classical Music
Balthasar Neumann Choir & Orchestra / Thomas Hengelbrock
Monday, 25/11/2024 / 08:00 PM - 09:25 PM / Elbphilharmonie (Großer Saal)
- from 15.00€ to 98.00€
Coincidence or fate? No other work in music history allows this question to be discussed as emotionally as Mozart’s unfinished Requiem. Mozart died at the age of just 35 while composing the requiem mass – what sounds like the stuff of a great tragedy is a reality. But despite all the legends, one thing remains above all: Mozart’s music, which is probably one of the most moving settings of the liturgical requiem text. The wrath of God, human grief, fear and hope – Thomas Hengelbrock and his ensembles are exactly the right cast to bring all the emotions of the music to the stage.
Hengelbrock precedes the famous dirge with the early Bach cantata »Christ lag in Todesbanden«. The composer was probably applying for his first organist’s post with this cantata and proves that he had mastered all the rules of the art. Following the old form of the choral cantata, the choir takes centre stage and sings movingly and powerfully about the resurrection of Jesus at Easter. In the version from 1724, Bach added a cornett and three trombones to the orchestra, providing even more goosebump-inducing moments.
Death and resurrection – these central themes of Christianity are perfectly suited to the time around the last Sunday before Advent (Sunday in commemoration of the dead) at the end of November. On period instruments and with their characteristic tonal fusion between choir and orchestra, the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Orchestra, complemented by outstanding vocal soloists for Mozart’s Requiem, trace the spirituality of the overwhelming music.
PERFORMERS
Balthasar-Neumann-Chor und -Orchester ensemble
Carolyn Sampson soprano
Eva Zaïcik mezzo-soprano
Benjamin Bruns tenor
Tareq Nazmi bass
Thomas Hengelbrock conductor
PROGRAM
Johann Sebastian Bach
Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Requiem in D minor, K. 626
All statements without guarantee.
