CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Staatskapelle Berlin

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Sunday, May 10th, 2009 at 2:00 PM

“an impressive, highly responsive ensemble”—Sun-Sentinel

New love, personal turmoil, and illness all find expression in Mahler’s stormy and triumphant Fifth Symphony—his first symphonic music to dispense with melodies from his youthful Wunderhorn songs. Maestro Barenboim is joined by Grammy Award– winning bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff for the composer’s Rückert Lieder—settings of poems by one of Austria’s greatest writers, Friedrich Rückert.

Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim, Music Director and Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Bass-Baritone

MAHLER Rückert Lieder
·· Liebst du um Schönheit
·· Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
·· Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
·· Um Mitternacht
·· Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
MAHLER Symphony No. 5

Perspectives: Daniel Barenboim

Program Notes:

Concertgoers familiar with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony may recall that the first movement contains a trumpet call remarkably similar to that which opens the Fifth. This fact may be symbolically regarded as Mahler’s conscious effort to move ahead in a new direction in the Fifth, yet at the same time to show that the new must build on the foundations of the old.

What then is new? Mahler’s newfound and deep acquaintance with Bach probably had much to do with his new compositional style, a style that Bruno Walter called “intensified polyphony.” The orchestral fabric becomes more complicated—more instruments playing more different lines at the same time. Mahler’s style becomes generally less lyrical, and more angular and hard-edged. Hymns of love, childlike faith, and quasi-religious messages tend to be replaced by moods of tragic irony, bitterness, and cynicism. This new approach did not come easily to Mahler. The piano score was written during the summer months of 1901 and 1902, and was orchestrated during the fall of 1902, but thereafter Mahler continually revised the work. According to his wife Alma, whom he had met and married during the period in which the symphony was written, “from the Fifth onward, he found it impossible to satisfy himself; the Fifth was differently orchestrated for practically every performance.”

One is often reminded that the Fifth is a purely symphonic work—no vocal or choral movements are found here, no texts philosophizing about joy, love, death, or resurrection—in contradistinction to the Second, Third, and Fourth Symphonies, the so-called Wunderhorn symphonies, which take their texts from a collection of German folk poetry. The First may also be regarded as containing vocal elements in the form of extended passages orchestrated from previously written songs. Yet even in the Fifth, we find brief allusions to three songs—the first of the Kindertotenlieder in the first movement, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” in the Adagietto, and “Lob des hohen Verstandes” in the Finale.

The symphony opens with a funeral march, a type of music found in every one of Mahler’s ten symphonies except the Fourth and Eighth. To the ponderous, thickly scored tread of the march is added a gentle lament in the strings. Suddenly the music erupts in wild, impassioned strains. The ever-changing, kaleidoscopic aspect of Mahler’s orchestration is heard in its fullest expression. Eventually the funeral march music reasserts itself, and after a nightmarish climax, the movement disintegrates in ghostly echoes of the trumpet call.

The second movement shares many qualities with the first, both emotionally and thematically. Easily identifiable variants and transformations of the first movement’s melodic material can be found. The turbulent, stormy mood continues and is elaborated. Titanic paroxysms of violent rage race uncontrolled in some of the most feverish music ever written. Quiet interludes recall the funeral lament of the first movement. Toward the end of the movement gleams a ray of hope—the brass proclaim a fragment of a victory chorale, an anticipatory gesture that will find its fulfillment in the symphony’s closing pages.

The despair and anguish of the first two movements (the symphony’s Part I) are abruptly dispelled in the life-affirming Scherzo (Part II) —the longest and most complex scherzo Mahler ever wrote. The tremendous energy that infuses the scherzo segments alternates with nostalgic and wistful interludes in waltz or ländler rhythm. One is tempted to imagine Mahler’s Austrian landscapes, the peasant dances, and the bustle and joy of life. The role of the principal horn becomes nearly that of a concerto soloist.

Part III consists of the Adagietto —surely the most famous single movement in all of Mahler—and the Finale. In the Adagietto, scored only for strings and harp, we return to a romantic dream world familiar from Mahler’s earlier works—a world of quiet contemplation, benign simplicity, inner peace, and escape from harsh reality. The spiritual, textural, and harmonic relationships to Mahler’s song “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (“I am lost to the world … I live alone in my heaven, in my loving, in my song”) are too close to be ignored. This oasis of innigkeit (“inwardness”) provides an extraordinary contrast to the sheer exuberance of the previous Scherzo and to the upcoming wildly extroverted Finale. Near the end of the symphony, the brass chorale is recalled, heard previously in the second movement, but now bursting forth in full glory and triumph. The metamorphosis from grief and death to joy and life is complete.

—Robert Markow
© 2008 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim, Music Director and Conductor
With almost 450 years of tradition, Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Originally founded in 1570 as a court orchestra by Prince-Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, and at first solely dedicated to carrying out musical services for the court, the ensemble expanded its activities with the founding of the Royal Court Opera in 1742 by Frederick the Great. Ever since, the orchestra has been closely tied to Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

Many important musicians have conducted the orchestra: Gaspare Spontini, Felix Mendelssohn, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Felix von Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Erich Kleiber, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Franz Konwitschny, and Otmar Suitner are just a few of the conductors who have decidedly influenced the instrumental and interpretive culture of Staatskapelle Berlin. The works of Richard Wagner—who himself conducted the Königlich Preußische Hofkapelle in 1844 at the premiere of his Flying Dutchman and in 1876 during the preparations for the Berlin premiere of Tristan und Isolde—has represented a pillar of the repertoire of the Staatsoper and its orchestra for some time.

Since 1992, Daniel Barenboim has served as the orchestra’s general music director; in 2000 the orchestra named him “Conductor for Life.” He has led the orchestra throughout Europe, Israel, Japan, and China, as well as North and South America. Performances of Beethoven’s complete symphonies and piano concertos in Vienna, Paris, London, New York, and Tokyo; the symphony cycles of Schumann and Brahms, respectively; and the three-part performance of Wagner’s Ring cycle in Japan are some of the most outstanding events of recent years. As part of the Staatsoper’s Festtage 2007, the symphonies and orchestral songs of Gustav Mahler were performed under the batons of Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez at Berlin’s Philharmonie.

Staatskapelle Berlin was named Orchestra of the Year in 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008 by the journal Opernwelt; in 2003 the orchestra was awarded the Furtwängler Prize. A constantly growing number of recordings in both the operatic and symphonic repertoires document the work of the orchestra: The 2002 recording of Beethoven symphonies was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque, the 2003 recording of Wagner’s Tannhäuser was awarded a Grammy, and the 2007 live recording of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony was awarded an Echo Prize.

In the Orchesterakademie, founded in 1997, young musicians gather professional experience in both opera and concert performance, mentored by members of the Staatskapelle. Furthermore, many Staatskapelle musicians volunteer at Musikkindergarten Berlin, an initiative founded by Daniel Barenboim. Staatskapelle members also dedicate themselves to working in chamber music formations, as well as in the ensemble Preußens Hofmusik, focusing on the Berlin music tradition from the 18th century. This rich musical activity can be experienced in several concert series held at the Staatsoper’s Apollo-Saal.

Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942 to parents of Jewish Russian descent. He started piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, continuing to study with his father who remained his only other teacher. In August 1950, when he was seven years old, he gave his first official concert in Buenos Aires.

Important influences in his development as a musician included Artur Rubinstein and Adolf Busch, both of whom performed in Argentina. The Barenboim family moved to Israel in 1952. Two years later, in the summer of 1954, the parents brought their son to Salzburg to take part in Igor Markevich’s conducting classes. During that same summer he also met Wilhelm Furtwängler, attending some of the great conductor’s rehearsals and one of his concerts. In 1955 the young Daniel Barenboim studied harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Mr. Barenboim made his debut as a pianist in Vienna and Rome in 1952, in Paris in 1955, in London in 1956, and in New York in 1957 with Leopold Stokowski conducting the Symphony of the Air. From then on, he made annual concert tours of the US and Europe. He toured Australia in 1958 and soon became known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation.

He completed his first recordings in 1954 and later began recording the most important works in the piano repertory, including complete cycles of the piano sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven, and concertos by Mozart, Beethoven (with Otto Klemperer), Brahms (with Sir John Barbirolli), and Bartók (with Pierre Boulez).

During the same period, Mr. Barenboim began to devote more time to conducting. His close relationship with the English Chamber Orchestra, kindled in 1965, lasted for more than a decade, during which time he served as both conductor and pianist. Following his conducting debut with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in London in 1967, Mr. Barenboim was in demand with all the leading European and American symphony orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989, he was music director of the Orchestre de Paris, his tenure marked by a commitment to contemporary music with performances of works by Lutoslawski, Berio, Hans Werner Henze, Henri Dutilleux, Takemitsu, and others.

Mr. Barenboim has always been active as a chamber musician, performing with, among others, his late wife, cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as well as with Gregor Piatigorsky, 34 Itzhak Perlman, and Pinchas Zukerman. In recital he has also accompanied Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Thomas Quasthoff, Rolando Villazón, Dorothea Röschmann, among others. In recent years he has performed chamber music at the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival and with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin.

Mr. Barenboim made his opera conducting debut in 1973 with a performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1981 he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival, where he has since conducted Tristan und Isolde, the Ring cycle, Parsifal, and Die Meistersinger.

In 1991 he succeeded Sir Georg Solti as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, enjoying countless successes in all the world’s great concert halls for 15 years. At the conclusion of his tenure in June 2006, the CSO musicians adopted a resolution naming him “our honorary conductor for life.” In 1992 he became General Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. In the autumn of 2000, the Staatskapelle Berlin appointed him Chief Conductor. He also appears regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras. In 2006 he was named Maestro Scaligero at La Scala, where he conducted Patrice Chéreau’s new production of Tristan und Isolde in December 2007.

Mr. Barenboim is a prolific recording artist with multiple Grammy Awards to his credit. EMI Classics recently released a program of Mozart Piano Trios with Nikolaj Znaider and Kyril Zlotnikov, and a DVD set titled Barenboim on Beethoven that includes the complete piano sonatas, as well as master classes in which Barenboim coaches young pianists such as Lang Lang and Jonathan Biss. Warner Classics and Jazz released his recording of Bach’s complete Well-Tempered Clavier, CDs and DVDs of concerts with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra recorded in London and Ramallah, and two 65th birthday anthologies: Daniel Barenboim: The Pianist and Daniel Barenboim: The Conductor. In 2007, Euroarts released DVDs of Tango Argentina (recorded live in Buenos Aires on New Year’s Eve 2006), and the complete Beethoven piano concertos with Barenboim as soloist and conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin, recorded in May 2007 at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr.

Thomas Quasthoff, Bass-Baritone
German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff is recognized as one of the most remarkable singers performing today. Since making his US debut at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmuth Rilling, he has sung with the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; and the Boston, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras. He has performed under the batons of Daniel Barenboim, Colin Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, and Franz Welser-Möst. In recital, Mr. Quasthoff has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center; and in major recital series in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, and Atlanta. His festival appearances include Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart.

A frequent guest at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Quasthoff’s appearances include the opening concert of the 2001–2002 season with the Berliner Philharmoniker led by Claudio Abbado, a recital with Angela Denoke and Daniel Barenboim at the piano, and two solo recitals with pianist Justus Zeyen. During the 2006–2007 season, he was a Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist, performing with The Cleveland Orchestra and presenting an evening of American popular song. Mr. Quasthoff returned to Carnegie in 2007–2008 to perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, and in recital with Dorothea Röschmann and Ian Bostridge.

Mr. Quasthoff has amassed an impressive discography that includes recordings for BMG, Haenssler, EMI-Electrola, Philips, and the Bayer labels. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist since 1999, three of his CDs have received Grammy Awards: Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Anne Sofie von Otter and Claudio Abbado; Schubert lieder with orchestra, also with von Otter and Abbado; and Bach cantatas with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. Other recordings on Deutsche Grammophon include Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin, Schubert’s Schwanengesang, and Brahms’s Vier ernste Gesänge with pianist Justus Zeyen; A Romantic Songbook (German lieder), also with Zeyen; a DVD of Winterreise with Daniel Barenboim; Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker; and a recent, Grammynominated CD of sacred arias. Mr. Quasthoff’s most recent releases are a disc of Bach Dialogue Cantatas with Dorothea Röschmann and Watch What Happens: The Jazz Album.

The subject of numerous articles in national publications—including Time, People, and Esquire magazines—Mr. Quasthoff has also been profiled on 60 Minutes. A German television documentary about Mr. Quasthoff was awarded a Golden Camera—the German equivalent to the Emmy. Mr. Quasthoff’s autobiography was recently published in Europe; a translated version was published in the US by Pantheon Books in June 2008.

Mr. Quasthoff’s international career was launched when he was awarded First Prize in the 1988 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. He received the Order of Merit from the President of the German Republic in October 2005, and in 2006 he was awarded the European Culture Prize for Music at the Dresden Frauenkirche. A dedicated teacher and advocate for young vocalists, Mr. Quasthoff was a professor at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany, from 1996–2004. In October 2004, he was appointed Professor of Music at the Hanns Eisler School for Music in Berlin.