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Like a great bottle of Riesling, these Jena/Weimar symposiums just keep getting better! They continue to be better attended and the concerts have also greatly improved. U.S. members Gordon Grant and Lloyd Arriola came over from Seattle and New York respectively, and I managed to drag Bradleigh Stockwell along . . . kicking and screaming.
The 2001 Symposium, formally called “4. Furtwängler Tage” covered a four day span from November 8th - 11th and featured some celebrity guest artists, most notably, conductor/pianist Daniel Barenboim and pianist Andras Schiff. Maestro Barenboim did a most commendable job of rendering the piano accompaniment to the violin solo of Gernot Süssmuth in the Furtwängler Violin Sonata No. 1 in d minor which requires tremendous concentration as it takes just over an hour to perform! It’s a massive canvas of musical ideas that cries out to be orchestrated like a child whose diapers are five sizes too small. It also demands much from the listeners as the complexity of the thematic development, together with very turgid, heavy structure, never really seems to resolve itself or ever find inner peace. It is 65 minutes of very serious, intense and, at times, downright depressing music. But it is, nevertheless, the music produced by an artist who was obviously experiencing a terribly trying and difficult phase of his life. It is also music that never seems to smile.
On the other hand, the Symphonic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was written around the same period as the violin sonata and is a full-blown monsterous, massive orchestral landscape. Once again, it is not what you could exactly call “pretty” or “beautiful”. Solemn, dark, soul searching, heavy, immense, depressing - yes. The conductor, George Alexander Albrecht, made a short announcement prior to the performance calling the piece “ironically appropriate” to the recent catastrophic events in New York and warned the audience that the next 90 minutes would not be a picnic. Rather, he explained, that the experience would be extremely intense and emotionally draining covering the span of time it would take to perform, in most cases, two concertos. I think he down played it. What ensued over the following hour and a half was an absolutely mind-boggling and totally engrossing musical experience.
This may sound tantamount to heresy, but I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve listened to the Symphonic Concerto all the way through over the years. So this was, in a way, almost a first hearing for me and it was as riveting as advertised. Andras Schiff was remarkable and played his heart out from beginning to end. He was totally in the music. The tension throughout the entire hall was so great that about ten minutes before the end of the piece, a high-intensity spotlight directly above the brass section in the left rear of the orchestra exploded with a very loud “pop!” sound that nearly arrested all my bodily functions in an instant! It was so eerily appropriate that I felt Furwängler’s presence more than ever before. As the piece came to its solemn, somber conclusion I realized I’d seen a side of Furtwängler that I’d never really known. Oh my God! In front of his widow, Elisabeth, and a large contingent of the family that had journeyed from all over Europe, this incredible scenario had unfolded.
Everyone who participated in and contributed to the four day odyssey is to be congratulated: the orchestra that came all the way from Japan to perform the first evening’s concert in the beautiful art nouveau Volkshaus concert hall (where Furtwängler himself performed a Brahms festival in 1929); the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra under the very capable guidance of Maestro David Geringas who also played cello solo pieces by Boccherini, Danzi and Stamitz (a Jena native); but most importantly the tireless and enormously talented Sebastian Krahnert who, together with his lovely wife Annette, Norbert Kleekamp and the Jena University music department, have year after year made this series of events bigger, better and thoroughly memorable through their great dedication to Furtwängler’s art and legacy. And last, but not least, kudos to the Osburg family and the entire staff of the hotel Schwarzer Bär who have, for all intents and purposes, hosted the many attendees who have travelled from all over the world to take part in this unique artistic experience over the past five years.
Bravo und vielen Dank!
Dade Thieriot
President, WFSA
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