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Michael Sanderling Leads Kurt Weill's Symphony No. 2 with the Munich Philharmonic

Dec. 02, 2014

Michael Sanderling Leads Kurt Weill's <em>Symphony No. 2</em> with the Munich Philharmonic

Michael Sanderling conducts Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 2 with the Münchner Philharmoniker on December 8 and 10. No stranger to the work, Maestro Sanderling has conducted it with the Luzernere Sinfonieorchester, Musikkollegium Winterthur, NDR Radiophilharmonie, MDR Sinfonieorchester, and, most recently, the Dresdner Philharmonie, where he is principal conductor. The program in Munich pairs the work with Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor,Op. 25, orchestrated by Arnold Schönberg.

Weill wrote his second symphony—his final purely orchestral work—in Paris after fleeing Germany in 1933, and Bruno Walter conducted its premiere with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 1934, shortly followed by its US premiere with the New York Philharmonic. Zachary Woolfe, for the New York Times, writes of the work:

After a brooding introduction, the first movement features broad Romantic melodies, perhaps an evocation of a vanishing past, that yield to martial rhythms. Those curt pulses suddenly relax, though not without an ominous tinge, into something suaver, like a tango, before the movement ends hard, loud and pummeling. Suavity is also under siege in the central Largo movement, more vigorous than relaxed or reflective. The mood is dirge-like, yet gains a strange sensuality from alluring instrumental combinations: cello with flute, horn with plucks from the strings. A firm timpani heartbeat fades into a murmur. The finale is a swirling, savage dance that becomes yet another march, more sardonic than the first movement’s, before a sinister, full-throated gallop to the end.

Visit mphil.de for details on the performances.

For more information on Kurt Weill, visit www.kwf.org.

Kurt Weill
Symphony No. 2 (1933-1934)
for orchestra
2(2.pic).2.2.2-2.2.2.0-timp.3perc-str
25’

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