We open with Mahler’s Third Symphony, continuing our journey which began with the Fifth and First. The Third is one of his Wunderhorn symphonies, based on his wonderful song settings of German folk poems from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. It’s one of his longest symphonies, set in six movements, each of which originally had a title relating to nature, humanity and love. Mahler felt very deeply about nature and nature is talking to us through this music. It is romantic and ambitious, and marks a huge jump by Mahler as a symphonic composer.
27.09.2024 DESINGEL ANTWERPEN
28.09.2024 FLAGEY BRUSSEL
05.10.2024 FLAGEY BRUSSEL
We give two concerts dedicated to Schoenberg. He was the next generation after Mahler, and it’s very interesting to hear the development of musical language. Schoenberg is known as a composer whose work is difficult to understand, but the pieces we’re playing sit on the border between romanticism and modernity. For example, Pierrot lunaire is for a small orchestra and a singer who sings and half-speaks. Based on 21 selected poems from the Belgian Symbolist poet Albert Giraud, Schoenberg’s music invites you to a one-of-a-kind experience: sometimes beautiful, sometimes grotesque, and sometimes both at the same time – you might be surprised!
In contrast, we’re also playing his Chamber Symphony No.1. This symphony was part of the programme of the famous ‘Scandal concert’ in 1913, which Schoenberg himself conducted. Shocked by the radical nature of the music, the audience began to riot during the concert. The music is played by a small orchestra, so you will hear all the details and feel very close to it. When you hear atonal music played like this, it sounds very beautiful to our ears, especially now that a century has passed and our perceptions have changed.
10.10.2024 FLAGEY BRUSSEL - SHADES OF SCHÖNBERG
12.10.2024 FLAGEY BRUSSEL - SCHÖNBERG: PIERROT LUNAIRE
Why did Milhaud call his work La création du monde? He wrote it as a response to hearing authentic jazz for the first time in Harlem in 1922, and it was a whole new and exciting world for him. It is also based on African folk mythology about the creation of the world. Lasting around 15 minutes, it is full of jazz elements and percussion – entertaining from beginning to end.
In the same programme, we also play Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, which offers another idea of how the world and humanity began. Strauss starts it with the trumpets, describing the beginning of human life, through the tough times and dream-like moments, to the final dream – death. It’s a very satisfying piece.
Martin Matalon’s Relatos is a creation of our time – with waves of dissonance that sound very beautiful. This concert describes three very different visions of the creation of life.
14.12.2024 FLAGEY BRUSSEL
15.12.2024 FLAGEY BRUSSEL - MATINEE: ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
In the final concert of the season, we perform a Russian programme featuring Rachmaninov, Scriabin, and Prokofiev. Rachmaninov was inspired to write The Isle of the Dead after seeing Arnold Böcklin's painting of the same name. He was living in the 20th century, but his music looks backward.
Scriabin and Rachmaninov studied at the Moscow Conservatoire at the same time and shared the same piano teacher, but Scriabin went in a very different direction from Rachmaninov. As the title Le poème de l’extase suggests, he was the poet of ecstasy – not just sexual ecstasy but intellectual.
If Rachmaninov looks backward, Prokofiev, who also lived in the 20th century, looks forward. He was a master of the music of our time, but in a very smart and gentle way. Even when his music uses modern harmonies, it always sounds moving and elegant.
19.12.2024 DE BIJLOKE GENT
20.12.2024 FLAGEY BRUSSEL
Kazushi Ono takes the next step – a giant step in fact – in his journey with Mahler. With the Brussels Philharmonic, the Vlaams Radiokoor, Octopus Kamerkoor and the children’s choir of Opera Ballet Flanders all together on stage, it will certainly be a crowd. But our musical director expertly guides everyone through a symphony that fascinates him beyond measure.
Even after a century and a half, the name Arnold Schönberg still inspires fear in some people. The festival Aimez-vous Schönberg celebrates his jubilee year and will probably help you break free of that phobia. Because although we generally associate the man with his sometimes somewhat calculated twelve-tone technique, there is a wealth of repertoire that is rarely heard because the dodecaphony hangs over Arnold’s head like the sword of Damocles. It turns out that the younger Arnold could just as easily look over his shoulder romantically or be inspired by the art movements around him. This weekend with Pierrot lunaire and Verklärte Nacht is all about his connection with symbolism… and therefore with Claude Debussy, too.
"Pierrot lunaire is for a small orchestra and a singer who sings and half-speaks. Based on 21 selected poems from the Belgian Symbolist poet Albert Giraud, Schönberg’s music invites you to a one-of-a-kind experience: sometimes beautiful, sometimes grotesque, and sometimes both at the same time – you might be surprised!" – Kazushi Ono
A concert evening full of primal power. The ballet score La Création du monde by Darius Milhaud tells the story of the creation of the world with the flavour of Harlem Jazz; while Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra has forever become the soundtrack of human consciousness thanks to Stanley Kubrick. That said, the Brussels Philharmonic also makes its own bit of history. Together with the Orchestre National de France, we commissioned Relatos, a new concerto for orchestra by Argentine composer Martin Matalon.
A concert full of primal power. The ballet score La Création du monde by Darius Milhaud tells the story of the creation of the world with the flavour of Harlem Jazz; while Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra has forever become the soundtrack of human consciousness thanks to Stanley Kubrick.
Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninov and Sergei Prokofiev. No matter how close the worlds of these three compatriots and contemporaries, their music was so different.