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Mallwitz and Nézet-Séguin Champion Kurt Weill’s Second Symphony On Two Sides of the Atlantic

Feb. 16, 2024

Kurt Weill’s second symphony, Fantasie Symphonique, has boasted a dramatic resurgence in attention. Critical praise greeted the three commercial recordings released since the pandemic and performances have blossomed all over Europe. Within a span of ten days in January and early February, two world-class conductors led performances on respective sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

“Joana Mallwitz is completely absorbed in the music, it is reflected in her body and the clear signaling that demands precision and flexibility in equal measure,” wrote Karin Coper of Klassik of the early February performance with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Even in her first year as Music Director, Joana Mallwitz has already shown herself to be a major Weill interpreter and advocate. Her season-opening performance of Weill’s first symphony, Symphonie in einem Satz, was similarly lauded as exemplary.

Ten days earlier in New York City, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra ensured a rousing start to Carnegie Hall’s Weimar festival with a performance of Weill’s symphony that nearly leaped off the stage. Nézet-Séguin has championed the work for a number of years, including past performances with the Philadelphians. His commanding engagement with the piece was brilliantly evident in a “bracing and full-throated” interpretation that “made your hair stand on end in the moment,” as described by Bachtrack’s Cameron Kelsall. This Carnegie performance is available to stream on demand through the website of WQXR.

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