I've managed to snatch a ticket for another Musikfest Berlin concert this year. For this concert, they were playing four pieces in total: Bohuslav Martinů's Memorial to Lidice, H. 296, Josef Suk's Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale "St. Wenceslas", Op. 35a, Arnold Schönberg's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41, and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103, "The Year 1905". While I am familiar with some of the composers, none of these pieces I actually have heard before, so I was curious, and attended it. It turned out to be a fantastic concert, and something I enjoyed massively!
The Martinů piece is a powerful and concise symphonic poem for orchestra. Written in response to the Nazi razing of the Czech village of Lidice, the piece is a deeply moving tribute. It begins with a tragic, solemn motive that builds into a harrowing, dissonant climax representing the massacre, before resolving into a quiet, transcendent quotation of the ancient "St. Wenceslas Chorale" and a final, luminous major chord. I thought that this piece was not just sonically interesting but also have a compelling narrative or external context. It's emotionally direct without being overly romantic, and its compact, dramatic structure definitely had appeal.
The Suk piece on the other hand is a contemplative and prayerful work for string orchestra. Composed at the outbreak of World War I, it is an intimate and patriotic reflection based on the same ancient chorale Martinů quotes. The style is firmly late-Romantic, characterized by dense polyphony, rich chromatic harmonies, and a slow, evolving texture that builds to a passionate climax. I found this piece's late-Romantic aesthetic and contemplative pacing to be quite far from my core preference for rhythmically dynamic and texturally innovative contemporary music. It was too slow and harmonically traditional, in my opinion.
The Schönberg piece was actually a positive surprise for me. I disliked his early tonal work, Verklärte Nacht, but this is a completely different beast. This is a unique and dramatic piece for a speaker, piano, and string orchestra. It sets Lord Byron's satirical poem that condemns Napoleon and, by extension, all tyrants. While it is based on a twelve-tone row, Schönberg uses it with great flexibility, making frequent and explicit references to tonality (especially a final, defiant E-flat major chord). The vocal part is a rhythmically notated declamation, creating a highly theatrical effect. Its use of a narrator declaiming a powerful text over a complex instrumental texture reminds me of Luciano Berio's Sinfonia, which I enjoyed. So yes, I was positively surprised, and learned that I should not categorically dismiss Schönberg just because I didn't like one of his earlier works. Oh, and I have to say, Pierre-Laurent Aimard on the piano was absolutely amazing.
Finally, the Shostakovich is a monumental and highly programmatic symphony for a massive orchestra. Written in 1957, it ostensibly depicts the Russian Revolution of 1905, though it's widely interpreted as a commentary on the more recent 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary. The symphony is like a film score in its epic scope, quoting numerous revolutionary songs. It moves from the vast, frozen stillness of the "Palace Square" to the shocking brutality of the "9th of January" massacre, followed by a solemn funeral march and a defiant, alarm-bell-filled finale. It was a home run. It's a gripping, emotionally draining, and sonically spectacular work. It combines a clear, powerful narrative with sophisticated 20th-century orchestration. This is large-scale, high-impact music, and honestly, it felt like it was too massive that the concert hall couldn't contain it.
Overall, this was a fantastic evening, and I am glad to have attended this one.
