MARTIN MAJKUT

The RVS concertmaster Carla Ecker is a fabulous musician who, to my never-ceasing amazement, also seems to possess clairvoyant abilities to read my musical intentions. It is time to give thanks to this generous musical soul. Vaughan William’s The Lark Ascending felt like a fitting tribute. The music has a warmth and sincerity to it. There is nothing superfluous, and nothing superficial about it. With quiet admiration, we follow the protagonist. We do not interfere, as such action would only break the moment of lyrical perfection. This Lark soars until our eyes and ears cannot detect it anymore - but the memory lives forever. 

 

I thought adding a few more birds was the right thing to do here. Ottorino Respighi searched the archives for bird-related music from the 17th and 18th centuries, which he then dressed in modern orchestral clothes. Now Vaughan William’s bird has the company of the dove, the hen, the nightingale and the cuckoo. 

 

Brahms took 21 years to write his first symphony. It is astounding but he knew what this piece needed to be to live up to the expectation of the “heir of Beethoven.” The drama of the first movement feels chiseled in marble. The second movement’s highlight is the expansive solo for the concertmaster – that is right, the celebration of Carla continues! The Allegretto charms you so completely that the beginning of the finale comes as a shock. However, soon the music finds its comfort zone, as horns bring a new melody, emulated after Alphorn music the composer heard on his hikes in the mountains of Austria. Finally, the main melody arrives, and here Brahms confirms what we suspected all along: he IS the heir of Beethoven! This melody is an homage to the Ode to Joy. Brahms accepts his role as a keeper of the Western classical canon and there is no doubt in the listener’s mind that we just witnessed the most successful handover in musical history.