Pathétique

Three works that touch the heart in very different ways because they express the unsayable: Tabita Berglund returns to the Tonkunstler Orchestra with a particularly gripping programme. Audiences first witnessed her on the podium in 2022, and since then the Norwegian conductor has been a welcome guest for both orchestra and public. Presenting Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, the «Pathétique», she gives us a symphony characterised by exorbitant eruptions of emotion and abrupt mood swings. Planned by the 53-year-old composer as the cornerstone of his oeuvre, it’s a kind of requiem, an acceptance only after much struggle of his leave-taking from life. Nine days after the world premiere, the composer was dead. For the first time, the Tonkunstler Orchestra has included a work by Harald Sæverud in their program. The compatriot of Edvard Grieg – and of Tabita Berglund – is regarded as one of the most important figures in Norwegian music of the 20th century. The difficult-to-translate title «Kjempeviseslåtten» literally means something like «Battle Song Dance» or more plainly «Ballad of Revolt». The piece is a musical outcry against the German occupation during World War II and is dedicated to the « small and large resistance fighters». Following this is Arvo Pärt’s «Tabula Rasa», which can be described as a composed silence: The transcendental calm and introspective, austere beauty also demand enormous, though quite different, concentration from the performers. The two solo parts will be filled by members of the orchestra: Natalia Sagmeister and Vahid Khadem-Missagh.