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Lahav Shani and Christian Tetzlaff

We are delighted to host the Israeli conductor Lahav Shani, who returns once again after receiving enthusiastic reviews from Israeli audiences and critics alike. The wonderful violinist Christian Tetzlaff joins for two exciting programs.

When Bach served in a small principality, he was not required to compose religious or church music. There was no need for this in a small country. In contrast, secular instrumental music was in demand. Bach composed a series of important works that included Orchestral Suite No. 2, which accords a central role to the solo flute. Like his other suites, it symbolized European unity well before anyone put the idea in his head. France, Spain and Poland and their characteristic folk dances are represented in the different movements. The majority, in this case, are French dances. The last movement, Badinerie, a rousing, original movement helped make the suite one of the 100 most popular works of all time.
Yossi Arnheim‘s flute sound evokes nobility embedded in a refined classical tradition.

When violinist Zoltán Székely asked Bela Bartók to compose a violin concerto for him, the request came at exactly the right time. Bartók had just finished a period of research into folk music and was looking for an outlet for his findings: “The ideal process of integration,” said Bartók, “ is to feel that this peasant music has become so much a part of you that you do not feel you are using it but rather that it is your mother tongue.”  In his Violin Concerto Bartók leans on themes derived from folk music while adding various variations. Székely was pleased when he saw the score but was upset by one thing: the last twenty-two notes were devoted to the orchestra while the soloist remained silent. After some debate, Bartók agreed to shorten the work on condition that two versions appeared in the score, allowing violinists and conductors to choose their preferred version. We shall see what the IPO will play.

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 was written as a response to the threat Stalin had leveled at the composer. It was an astute response and, already at its premiere 80 years ago, in 1937, the Russian audience understood the hidden message in the notes. Shostakovich composed the work a year after having been subjected to stinging criticism by the political establishment headed by Stalin. After almost two years of imposed silence, he composed the new work and described it as “a Soviet artist’s response to justified criticism.” We do not know if he truly intended such a headline or if he was simply complying with the orders of party officials. Symphony No. 5 is considered to be one of his best symphonies and is certainly his most popular. It is a large, direct, sentimental, and courageous work.

In terms of the concerto form, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto was revolutionary in its time. It has no orchestral introduction. The solo violin presents the first theme on the high string, over subdued whispers by the orchestra.  From this point till the end of the work, there is a sense of partnership, rather than rivalry, between soloist and orchestra. The atmosphere is one of optimism in the spirit of the fairy music of Midsummer Night’s Dream. The soloist’s brilliance blends beautifully with the brilliance of the orchestra. An innovative partnership at the time and pure pleasure in our time.
Christian Tetzlaff is a great deception wizard: Mendelssohn‘s first six bars may seem ordinary, but Tetzlaff has other plans. He takes the work into new and unfamiliar territory; his Mendelssohn is angular, stormy, and brilliant.

The Viennese audience which heard Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 at its world premiere demanded to hear the second movement again. An astonishing event for a Viennese audience which usually heard only extracts from new works. In his seventh symphony, Beethoven transformed the customary slow second movement into a fast movement. Composers who followed him described the symphony in dance terms: “An apotheosis of dance in which tables and benches, cans and cups, grandmothers, the blind, the lame and children in the cradle all fall to dancing” (Wagner), “a village wedding” (Schumann), “a peasant dance” (Berlioz).
Beethoven’s seventh is indeed a celebration of rhythm from beginning to end and it is no wonder that Beethoven himself said “As I composed the work, I felt like Bacchus pouring wine over mankind…”

Program No. 1

Lahav Shani, conductor

Christian Tezlaff, violinist

Yossi Arnheim, flutist

Bach: Orchestral Suite no. 2

Bartók: Violin Concerto no. 2

Shostakovich: Symphony no. 5

Program No. 2

Lahav Shani, conductor

Christian Tezlaff, violinist

Yossi Arnheim, flutist

Bach: Orchestral Suite no. 2

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto

Beethoven: Symphony no. 7

Program No. 3

Lahav Shani, conductor

Christian Tezlaff, violinist

Rona Kenan, singer and presenter

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto

Beethoven: Symphony no. 7