Will

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Two worlds that could not be more different, yet are inextricably linked at their innermost core, are brought together in this concert under the baton of the American conductor Karina Canellakis.

One of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most beautiful solo cantatas focuses on the words of the ancient prophet Simeon, as recounted in the Gospel according to St. Luke – its profundity comparable to Bach’s great Passions. Simeon foresaw the advent of the world’s redeemer. Observing the new-born Jesus being presented at the temple, the old man recognizes in the child the future saviour. Simeon’s life-long hope and trust are fulfilled at the very moment the prophet cradles the child in his arms. Now he is content to leave behind his earthly existence. In Bach’s cantata »Ich habe genug«, bass-baritone Gábor Bretz – thereby making his debut with the Gürzenich Orchestra – lends the Biblical figure of Simeon his voice.

Bach’s work revolves around the love of God, the hope for fulfilment – Luciano Berio’s »Folk Songs« centre on human love with its joyful and sorrowful aspects, also striving for fulfilment: Berio collected tender, evocative folk songs from various countries, giving them shimmering, highly atmospheric instrumentations. Like a painter, he illuminates texts from different centuries so that they shine like precious, colourful still lifes. Rinat Shaham makes her Gürzenich Orchestra debut in Luciano Berio’s »Folk Songs«. Bach and Berio: diametrically opposed as they may seem, in these works they appear as close relatives. The performance in Cologne emphasizes this affinity by juxtaposing the two works in one programme.

Compared with the almost transcendental serenity of Bach’s Simeon, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 is filled to the brim with the energy of an absolute will to live: at the time of its writing, the composer was forced to confront the fact that he would inexorably lose all sense of hearing. »I shall seize fate by the throat; it shall never bend me completely to its will!« Thus he wrote to a friend while working on the score. The lightness of touch and wit of this genius work are all the more astounding. The Second Symphony is marked by harmonic sophistication and surprising musical punchlines. Full of admiration, one of its earliest reviewers wrote after the premiere: »It is a strange, colossal work, matched in depth, strength and artistic erudition by very few!«