#MKOPlaylist Sounds from the home office
Clemens Schuldt chief conductor of the MKO
Stefan Schneider Solo-Klarinettist beim Münchener Kammerorchester
Indre Mikniene Bratscherin im Münchener Kammerorchesters
DANIEL GIGLBERGER UND
STEFAN SCHNEIDER
Simona Venslovaite Geigerin im Münchener Kammerorchesters
Xandi van Dijk Solo-Bratscher des Münchener Kammerorchesters
Benjamin Britten’s Lachrymae is an intensely introspective work, with but a few rage-filled outbursts and extroverted lamentations. Its subtitle, Reflections on a song of Dowland, suggests to the listener an attitude which they can adopt: that of reflective meditation in regarding this musical polyptych.
Central to these variations is John Dowland’s song, If my complaints could passions move. This is a sentiment of which I have found myself acutely aware these past weeks, particularly the impotence of my anger when screaming at my phone and laptop while reading and watching current news reports: World leaders not taking this crisis seriously and thereby endangering hundreds of thousands of lives. Citizens not taking the situation seriously and again endangering themselves and many, many others. Acute distress at the thought of less fortunate societies being ravaged by this virus, and my family living in South Africa, about to experience this from up close.
Lachrymae gives voice to these sorrows and is an outlet to the grief we may be feeling. Yet it is not a morose piece, and the transformation Britten leads us to at the end of the work is one of optimism and hope for something better. Something I wish for us all.
This performance with the MKO and Clemens was a special one for me: My first appearance as a soloist with my own orchestra and chief conductor.
Be healthy and safe!
Xandi
Tatjana Erler Solo-Bassistin im Münchener Kammerorchester
David Schreiber Bratscher im Münchener Kammerorchester
Das Stück ›Hirta Rounds‹ wurde eigens vom schottischen Komponisten David Fennessy für das Münchener Kammerorchester komponiert. Der Name gibt Hinweis auf Fennessys Inspiration: Weit vor der Atlantikküste Schottlands liegt die kleine Insel Hirta, Teil der der schottischen St.-Kilda-Inseln. Vor über 100 Jahren musste die Bevölkerung die Insel verlassen. Die ausgestorbene Insel inspirierte Fennessy zu ›Hirta Rounds‹ und lässt MKO-Bratscher David Schreiber an die ausgestorbenen Straßen der Stadt denken.
Nancy Sullivan Bratscherin im Münchener Kammerorchester
“It is interesting to pick up a CD ( god, when was the last time you picked up one of those?) out of the pile of them sitting in their dust covering your shelf and opening it up to discover the whole world which is contained in it. Kim Kashkashian, Mansurian, Leonidas Kavakos, Hiliard Ensemble, Münchener Kammerorchester, hmmm, did I play on that one?
Turns out that I did, and there are even pictures in the program notes to prove it.
I put it in my dusty CD player, which after some cajoling and debate over whether it is a USB source or a CD, deigns to play it. Have I ever listened to this before? Probably not.
„….and then I was in time again“ concerto for viola and orchestra with Kim Kashkashian comes first. The beginning is still unfamiliar, but after a few minutes I know that I was there back in 2001, (!!!) in Sendling in the Himmelfahrtskirche because the music sounds so familiar.
When one spends so much time recording a piece, looking at minuscule details and listening so carefully to the result, the music takes hold of you, stays in the fabric of your memory, whether you remember it or not. I look through the accompanying booklet, seeing pictures that remind me of that intense time over those few days. Familiar faces, Muriel, Kelvin, Christoph, members of the Orchestra back then who are long gone from Munich, but also the Hiliard Ensemble, Kim Kashkashian, Tigran Mansurian are there. Seeing them all remind me of so many things, the friendship with Hiliard Ensemble, who came to my flat once for my birthday party in Munich, bearing small gifts and staying for some wine and talk. Or seeing Kim Kashkashin, long an idol of mine, remind me of seeing her later in New York at her recital and going out for Chinese food with her and some other friends.
Perhaps the best thing for me about being in the MKO has been the friendships that have developed with my colleagues and these special artists who we have worked with, been inspired by and I have such wonderful memories of. Looking at the pictures of us all from 18 years ago, and listening to this wonderful music I see a chronicle of what we were back then and what we have become. This gives me sustenance and the hope that we WILL all play together again, we WILL make recordings like this one again, the world WILL be back „in time again“ but hopefully, somehow with a new sense of the fragility of our existence and respect for the wonder that it still holds for us.”
