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Sir Simon Rattle, Stefan Dohr, and the Berlin Philharmonic Premiere Jörg Widmann's Horn Concerto

May. 31, 2024

Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic performed the world premiere of Jörg Widmann's Horn Concerto, featuring Stefan Dohr as soloist on May 30 at the Berlin Philharmonie with additional performances on May 31 and June 1. Widmann's Horn Concerto marked the conclusion of Widmann's tenure as Composer-in-Residence with the Berlin Philharmonic. 

The composer notes:

"It has been a long-standing dream of mine to write a horn concerto one day. I have loved the horn since my earliest youth. In Stefan Dohr I have found the ideal horn player to realize this dream. In many conversations and sessions with him, I was able to delve even deeper than before into the peculiarities and characteristics of the horn's sound.

The result is a seven-movement horn concerto lasting almost 40 minutes. The number seven has become a central number for me, at least since my Babylon opera. After the introductory Traumbild (dream picture), the second movement Andantino grazioso is characterised by my admiration for the music of Carl Maria von Weber – I lovingly circle and vary a theme from his Horn Concertino. In its exaggerated virtuosity, both for the horn and the orchestra, the third movement Scherzo à la surprise has a (deceptive) final character in itself. The emotional centrepiece, however, is the Adagietto, a movement for solo horn alone with strings, harp and celesta. In the fifth movement, 
Zwischenwelt (Intermediate World), the orchestra takes control of the action in dense clusters of sound until the movement sinks into alienated harmonic structures and fanfare gestures in sounds of noise and air. The enigmatic sixth movement Vorahnung (Premonition) is followed by one of the few genuine Finales I have written. Here, the attempt is made to bring together and concentrate elements from all the preceding movements and organically lead them into a condensation of the simultaneously dark and abysmal and exuberantly light."

Listen to Jörg Widmann's Con brio (2008):

The WDR Symphony Orchestra performs Jörg Widmann's Con brio conducted by the composer

To learn more about Jörg Widmann, visit schott-music.com.

Jörg Widmann
Horn Concerto (2023-2024)
for horn and orchestra
3(2.pic).3(3.eh).2(2.e-flat cl).bcl.2.cbn-4.3.3.1-timp-3perc-hp-cel-str(12.10.8.6.6(all with five strings))
38'
View the score

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