CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
The 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker

Zankel Hall
Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 7:30 PM

The 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker

PART I: ANGEL DANCES

JULIUS KLENGEL Hymnus
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA Milonga del Angel (arr. José Carli)
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Trio and Quartet from Elijah (arr. W. Kaiser-Lindemann)
CLAUDE DEBUSSY La cathédral engloutie (arr. Rudolf Leopold)
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA Muerte del Ángel (arr. J.Carli)
GIUSEPPE VERDI Ave Maria from Four Sacred Pieces (arr. David Riniker)
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA La resurrección del Ángel (arr. J. Carli)


PART II: THE DANCE OF THE WORLD

JEAN FRANÇAIX Presto from Aubade
BORIS BLACHER Espagnola
W. KAISER-LINDEMANN Bossa Nova
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Lyric Waltz (arr. Riniker)
GEORGE GERSHWIN Clap Yo’ Hands (arr. Michail Tsygutkin)
ENNIO MORRICONE The Man with the Harmonica (arr. Kaiser-Lindemann)
JORGE BEN Mas que nada (arr. Valter Despalj)
CHABUCA GRANDA La Flor de la Canela (arr. Carli)
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA Fuga y misterio (arr. Carli)

Encores:
PIAZZOLLA Liebertango
MANCINI The Pink Panther Theme (arr. Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann)

The Berlin in Lights festival is made possible by a leadership gift from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

Major funding has also been provided by Mercedes and Sid Bass, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from Martha and Bob Lipp, Fundación Mercantil (Venezuela), and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional funding provided by Axel Springer AG, GWFF USA Inc., and the Jerome Robbins Foundation.

Program Notes:

THE CONCERT
At a Glance

It seems unusual—and somewhat quixotic—for an entire section in one of the world’s greatest orchestras to wander off and form its own group, but the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker have been performing independently for the past 35 years. Blurring the boundaries between chamber and orchestral music, “The 12” have developed a unique signature repertoire that combines original compositions by prominent composers with fresh arrangements of everything from centuries-old classics to recent popular songs.

For their second appearance at Zankel Hall, The 12 offer a program juxtaposing the sacred and the secular. Ethereal soundscapes by Debussy, Mendelssohn, Verdi, and Astor Piazzolla comprise the first part of the concert, “Angel Dances.” The 12 bring us back to earth after intermission with “The Dance of the World,” blending compositions created for them by Boris Blacher and Jean Francaix with foot-tapping tunes by George Gershwin, Ennio Morricone, Jorge Ben, and others.

Notes on the Program
By Frank J. Oteri

PART I: ANGEL DANCES

In 1972, conductor Herbert von Karajan was asked if the cello section of the Berliner Philharmoniker could be borrowed for a radio broadcast of an unusual composition for 12 cellos composed by Leipzig Gewandhaus cellist Julius Klengel (1859–1933). Their performance of Klengel’s Hymnus, previously played only at the funeral of conductor Arthur Nikisch in 1922, was so successful that the 12 cellists continued as an ensemble separately from the Orchestra, commissioning new repertoire and arrangements.

Milonga del Ángel (1965), by Ástor Piazzolla (1921–1992), is one of several angel-inspired compositions created by the legendary progenitor of Nuevo Tango. The word “milonga,” originating in West Africa, has multiple meanings, which include a type of dance as well as a place where dancing takes place. In Piazzolla’s native Argentina, the word is also often used to describe a tango party. It might initially seem incongruous for an infectious tango by Piazzolla to open a portion of a concert program devoted to the sacre but Piazzolla’s angel compositions fuse the dance music with a religious sensibility. The sensitive transcriptions of frequent 12 arranger José Carli presented on this evening’s program further bring out the devotional component of this music, emphasizing its kinship to Baroque repertoire, which Piazzolla greatly admired.

Although Milonga del Ángel is frequently presented today as a Suite del Àngel with Introducción al Ángel (1962), La muerte del Ángel (1962), and La resurrección del Ángel (1965) (that is how Piazzolla performed the pieces in his final years), Piazzolla originally conceived and composed the works separately and he frequently performed them independently. In keeping with Piazzolla’s flexible aesthetic, The 12 have chosen to present these three compositions independently during the course of the first half of the program, forming a frame into which the rest of the repertoire fits as for further reflection.

The great oratorio Elijah (1846), by Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), one of the final works of this composer whose life was tragically short, was deeply indebted to the music of the Baroque masters. Among the most treasured passages of the work are the Trio and Double Quartet, originally composed for three and eight singers respectively, which are particularly delicate. The arrangement created expressly for The 12 by German composer Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann (b. 1940) maintains an appropriate spareness and austerity.

The hauntingly beautiful La cathédral engloutie (“The Sunken Cathedral,” 1910), by Claude Debussy (1862–1918) was originally composed for solo piano and appears as the tenth piece in his first book of 12 Preludes from 1910. It is an extremely evocative tone poem inspired by the legend of a cathedral in the mysterious Breton city of Ys said to be built below sea level and eventually submerged as a punishment for the decadence of the population. Rudolf Leopold’s idiomatic arrangement for The 12 effectively translates the spirit of Debussy’s original conception to the sonorities of the cello.
Astor Piazzolla’s La muerte del Ángel (“The Death of the Angel,” arr. J.Carli), described above, is a tango fugue that was originally composed as incidental music for Alberto Rodriguez Nuñoz’s 1962 theatre piece El Tango del Angel. In the play, an angel comes to a neighborhood in Buenos Aires to purify its inhabitants only to be killed in a violent fight with a local villain.

The Ave Maria (1888) from the Four Sacred Pieces of Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) ranks high among the popular Italian operatic composer’s hidden musical treasures. It was Verdi’s response to a compositional challenge published in the magazine Gazetta musicale to harmonize a strange enigmatic scale featuring unusually spaced intervals (which in no way resembles the standard major and minor scales that form the basis of most of the world’s most widely performed music). The arrangement for The 12 was created by ensemble member David Riniker (b. 1970).

The first half of the program concludes with Piazzolla’s La resurrección del Ángel (“The Resurrection of the Angel, arr. J. Carli) which begins serenely and ends triumphantly.
 
PART II: THE DANCE OF THE WORLD

The second half of the program opens with a movement from one of the earliest pieces expressly created for The 12, the Presto from the Aubade by the prolific French composer Jean Françaix (1912–1997), which received its first performance by the group in its home city in 1975. Like most of his works, it is light and witty and a delight both to play and to hear.
“Espagnola” is the middle movement of an even earlier 12-inspired composition, Blue—Espagnola—Rumba philharmonica by the unjustly neglected mid-century German composer Boris Blacher (1903–1975), which was unveiled during The 12’s first appearance in Tokyo back in 1973. According to the group’s official history, this exciting work, which puts an avant-garde spin on the dances of the Americas, was Blacher’s gift to the group for returning his hitchhiking 15-year-old daughter to his doorstep during a rainstorm.
 
The 12 in Bossa Nova is a delightful original composition for The 12 created by the frequent arranger, William Kaiser-Lindemann (b. 1940).
 
The two Jazz Suites of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) are rare examples of levity from a composer whose music has come to symbolize the difficulties of life under Soviet totalitarianism. The first was created for a state-sponsored jazz competition in 1934, while the origins of the second from 1938 are not known. In fact, musicologists are currently debating its provenance, claiming it to be a compilation of film music by Shostakovich possibly not even arranged by him. David Riniker made the effective arrangement of the latter’s Lyric Waltz performed here.

Ukranian jazzer Mikhail Tsygutkin’s arrangement of the still-popular song “Clap Yo’ Hands” by George Gershwin (1898–1937) is a favorite of The 12. Featured on their 2002 CD ’Round Midnight and performed by them at their previous Zankel engagement in 2003, the song originally appeared with lyrics by the composer’s brother Ira in the hit Broadway musical Oh, Kay! (1926).

“The Man with the Harmonica,” by Ennio Morricone (b. 1928), originally appeared in a 1979 episode of the comic Austrian TV detective series Kottan ermittelt (“Kottan Investigates”) and later resurfaced on American television in the 2002 Sopranos episode “Whoever Did This.” But it has never quite sounded the way it does in Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann’s arrangement for multiple cellos.
 
“Mas que nada” (“No Way”), a 1963 song by Brazilian great Jorge Ben (b. 1942), is most widely known to folks north of the Tropic of Cancer in an arrangement by Sérgio Mendes, for whom it became a runaway hit. The 12 put a completely different spin on it in their performance of an arrangement by Croatian cellist Valter Despalj, who is the artistic director of Strings Only, based in Zadar, Croatia.
 
The 1950 song “La Flor de la Canela,” by Peruvian legend Chabuca Granda (1920–1983), has become a virtual anthem for the city of Lima. José Carli’s arrangement retains its grace and charm.

Finally, the program ends where it began with the sublime music of Astor Piazzolla. Fuga y misterio (1969), here presented in an arrangement by Carli, is another intriguing blend of counterpoint and intoxicating rhythms—taking the 12’s dances of the worlds back into the heavens.
 

Copyright © 2007 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation

New York–based composer Frank J. Oteri is the composer advocate at the American Music Center and the founding editor of its web magazine, NewMusicBox.org.

The 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker
The 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker have amazed audiences of all ages with their performances of music from classical to jazz, tango to the avant-garde. As ambassadors for Berlin, they accompany the German Federal President on state visits and have been invited on several occasions to the Japanese Imperial Palace. Their performances at the London Proms, at Carnegie Hall in New York, and at Suntory Hall in Tokyo are always highlights of the concert season.

Ludwig Quandt was born in 1961 in Ulm. He studied in Lübeck with Arthur Troester, who had been principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker under Wilhelm Furtwängler. Quandt completed his studies with master classes with Zara Nelsova, Maurice Gendron, Boris Pergamenschikow, and Siegfried Palm. He has won awards at many international competitions, and was a prizewinner at the ARD Competition in 1990, and first-prize winner of the “Premio Stradivari“ at the international cello competition “Roberto Caruana” in Cremona. In 1991, Ludwig Quandt was engaged by the Berliner Philharmoniker and has, since 1993, been one of the orchestra’s principal cellists. In 1996, he made his debut under Claudio Abbado with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto.

Nikolaus Römisch was born in 1972 in Berlin and is thus the sole “dyed-in-the-wool” Berliner in the cello group. Römisch studied with Wolfgang Boettcher in Berlin and with Ivan Monigetti in Basel. Among other distinctions, he was a successful contestant with the Federal Selection of Concerts for Young Artists, and his first appointment was to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1996. He has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the year 2000.

Dietmar Schwalke was born in Pinneberg, near Hamburg. He studied in Hamburg with Arthur Troester and afterward in Berlin with Wolfgang Boettcher, completing his training under Pierre Fournier. Among other distinctions, he was a successful contestant with the competition of the Germany Music Council’s Platform for Young Soloists, a position associated with extensive concert tours and recordings. He was also a member of the Kreuzberg String Quartet, Berlin. Since 1994, he has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and has also been active as a soloist and chamber musician with such ensembles as the Philharmonic String Soloists and the Vincent Trio.

Solène Kermarrec was born in 1983 in Brest (Bretagne). She began her studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with Jean-Marie Gamard, continuing in Budapest at the Franz Liszt Academy with Miklós Perényi, and concluded in Berlin with Wolfgang Boettcher. She has won several prizes, among them first prize in 2003 at the Gabrielli Competition in Berlin and a special prize for the best interpretation of the Solo Sonata by Kodály at the David Popper International Competition in 2004. She became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2007.

Christoph Igelbrink was born in 1958 in Düsseldorf. His teachers were Wolfgang Mehlhorn, Arto Noras, Antonio Janigro, and Paul Tortelier. He has won various competitions both in Germany and abroad and qualified for participation in the Federal Selection of Concerts for Young Artists. In 1986, he became principal cellist with the Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra, and he has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1989. In addition, he has appeared with various chamber music ensembles: the Philharmonic String Sextet, the Athenaeum String Quartet, and the Philharmonic Piano Trio.

Olaf Maninger was born in Recklinghausen, completing his studies in Essen with Janos Starker and Maria Kliegel. Subsequently, he studied in Cologne with Armin Fromm, António Menèses, and Boris Pergamenschikow, as well as with the Amadeus Quartet. He has followed a busy schedule of both soloistic and chamber music activities, taking him throughout the world. In 1994, Maninger became, for a brief interval, principal cellist with the Hessischen Rundfunk, until he was engaged a few months later by the Berliner Philharmoniker. Since 1996, he has been a principal cellist with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Martin Menking was born in 1967 in Münster. Already when still a student of Heinrich Schiff and David Geringas, he won numerous national and international competitions. He rounded off his musical training in master classes with Yo-Yo Ma, Boris Pergamenschikow, Janos Starker, Siegfried Palm, Isaac Stern, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Alban Berg Quartet. In 1994, he became principal cellist of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, joining the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1996. Additionally, he has been a member since 1992 of the Consortium Classicum and is a much sought-after chamber music partner.

Knut Weber was born in 1974 in Klagenfurt, Austria. He studied at first with the Slovenian Miloš Mlejnik, then with Claus Kanngiesser in Cologne, and with Wolfgang Boettcher in Berlin. He also received decisive stimulus in master classes with Heinrich Schiff, Siegfried Palm, William Pleeth, F. Helmerson, David Geringas, Bernard Greenhouse, the Alban Berg Quartet, and the Beaux Arts Trio. Knut Weber has been the recipient of, among other distinctions, the First Prize of the International Cello Competition in Liezen, Austria. Since 1998, he has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Born into an Austro-Hungarian family of musicians, cellist Stephan Koncz started studying at the University for Music in Vienna with Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartet) at the age of eight. In 2000 he continued his studies with the principal cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic, Róbert Nagy, and additionally pursued a double major in conducting and composition. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Koncz has collaborated with Julian Rachlin, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and Dmitry Sitkovetsky and has had master classes with Steven Isserlis, Daniel Barenboim, and Heinrich Schiff. As an orchestral musician, Mr. Koncz works regularly with eminent orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Vienna Philharmonic. In 2005 he was appointed principal cellist of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. Since 2006 Stephan Koncz has been a member of the prestigious Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philhamoniker, studying with Ludwig Quandt.

David Riniker was born in 1970 in Switzerland. He studied at first with Jean Paul Guéneux, and later in the concert classes of António Menèses in Basel. He completed honing his skills in master classes with Arto Noras, Boris Pergamenschikow, Wolfgang Boettcher, and David Geringas. He has also been the recipient of numerous distinctions both at home and abroad, including the European Youth Prize in Varna, Bulgaria. Riniker has been member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1995 and has played with various celebrated chamber musicians.

Inga Raab was born 1979 in Leipzig. She studied at the Musikhochschule Lübeck with Troels Svane, at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” with Stefan Forck, and in Berlin with David Geringas. During her studies she won first prize in the Domenico Gabrielli Competition and third prize in the Lluis Claret Competition in Spain. Aside from playing chamber music, she has also been a soloist with different orchestras and has given numerous recitals. She became acquainted with the 12 Cellists in 2004 and was later offered a part-time contract.

Martin Löhr was born in 1967 in Hamburg. He began his studies in Hamburg with Wolfgang Mehlhorn, continuing them in New York with Zara Nelsova, and concluding in Berlin with Wolfgang Boettcher. Besides earning various distinctions as a soloist, he obtained several international first prizes with his piano trio Jean Paul at the International Chamber Music Competition in Osaka in 1993 and in Melbourne in 1995. In 1995, Löhr also won First Prize at the international cello competition Jeunesse Musicales in Belgrade. He has been a principal cellist with the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1996 and has traveled the world during this time with his trio Jean Paul.