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Munich Philharmonic: Webern / Strauss / SibeliusSusanna Mälkki (conductor), Andrey Godik (oboe)

This event is in the past.

 Conductor Susanna Mälkki leans on the back of a chair with her arms crossed and looks to the side
Copyright: Simon Fowler

The Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki grew up with Sibelius’ music and is the highest authority on his passionate, Nordic musical language.

This event is in the past.

The Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki grew up with Sibelius’ music and is the highest authority on his passionate, Nordic musical language.

  • Andrey Godik, oboe
  • Susanna Mälkki, conductor

In view of the symphonic excesses of late Romanticism, Anton Webern called for a rejection of the “enormous junk”. By way of an antidote, he composed his “Six Orchestral Pieces” – a concentration of short, aphoristic highlights. Jean Sibelius, following Wagner’s lead, was still pursuing the 19th century tradition with his plans to produce opera material from the Finnish national epic “Kalevala”. In the end, he conceded that the project was hardly viable and instead focused on one of Kalevala’s heroes, Lemminkäinen, a youthful daredevil somewhere between Siegfried and Don Juan, about whom he composed four symphonic poems. With one of the most demanding works for oboe, Andrey Godik makes his musical debut as the new principal oboist of the Munich Philharmonic. Richard Strauss wrote his Oboe Concerto a few years before his death as a carefree review of his prolific life’s work.

Programme

  • Anton Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op 6
  • Richard Strauss: Concerto for oboe and small orchestra in D major
  • Jean Sibelius: “Lemminkäinen Suite”, Op 22 “Four Legends” for orchestra