The Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra will once again perform at the Choriner Musiksommer – a summer classical music festival held annually at the historic Cistercian monastery in Chorin, Germany.
Our orchestra will perform the immensely popular Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 2 by Mieczysław Karłowicz, a work much loved by string ensembles. Its world premiere took place in Berlin on 15 April 1897, performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of H. Urban. The composition consists of four movements whose number and titles (March, Romance, Waltz and Finale) evoke the popular works of Mozart, Volkmann, Tchaikovsky and Dvořák. Yet the music of the Serenade is entirely original, and throughout many passages one can clearly hear the distinctive lyricism so characteristic of Karłowicz’s musical language.
Another work by Mieczysław Karłowicz to be heard during the concert will be Eternal Songs – perhaps the most personal composition by the patron of the Philharmonic. Conceived as a kind of symphonic triptych, the work reveals many features typical of late-Romantic music, while also displaying Karłowicz’s unmistakable lyrical and spacious themes imbued with a distinctly Slavic character. On the occasion of the Warsaw premiere, Karłowicz’s friend, the musicologist Henryk Opieński, published in Scena i Sztuka a description of the work based on a conversation with the composer: “In the form of a symphonic triptych, the composer expressed what resonated within the soul of the musician-artist as he perhaps rested upon the granite peaks of the Tatra Mountains – where he had lived for several years – contemplating the greatest questions of human existence: the eternal longing of the spirit, love, and death…” (quoted after
culture.pl).
The concert programme will also include the Symphony No. 2 in D major by Jean Sibelius. Sibelius himself once said that he “loved the mysterious sounds of fields, forests, waters and mountains.” These sonorities can be heard in one of his finest achievements – the Symphony No. 2. Following its premiere in 1902, critics compared the work to the greatest symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. Sibelius described it as his most sincere musical confession, an intimate statement dedicated to his homeland. Owing to the period in which it was written (1901-1902) and its deeply elevated character, the symphony is often associated with Finland’s struggle for independence.
The Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by maestro
Przemysław Neumann.
