Munich Philharmonic: Munktell / Strauss / Mendelssohnconducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada
“Come with prong, and come with fork,” goes the line in Goethe’s dramatic ballad “The First Walpurgis-Night”, to give “yon dull Christian priests” a good and proper fright. The young Felix Mendelssohn had a penchant for such witchery. Drawing on Goethe’s poem, he created a furious soundscape featuring wild dances and archaic, ominous incantations.
“Come with prong, and come with fork,” goes the line in Goethe’s dramatic ballad “The First Walpurgis-Night”, to give “yon dull Christian priests” a good and proper fright. The young Felix Mendelssohn had a penchant for such witchery. Drawing on Goethe’s poem, he created a furious soundscape featuring wild dances and archaic, ominous incantations.
Macbeth, too, meets its tragic end by the witches’ craft. Richard Strauss drew on Shakespeare’s drama to create his first tone poem – a dark and intense psychological portrait whose gripping soundscapes foreshadow the opera composer he would later become.
The Swedish composer Helena Munktell, born in 1852, provides a striking contrast. In her symphonic poem Valborgsmessoeld, she transforms Walpurgis Night into an evocative tableau – a colourful opening to this programme by an extraordinary, rediscovered composer.
With
- Conductor: Andrés Orozco-Estrada
- Mezzo-soprano: Xenia Puskarz Thomas
- Tenor: Mauro Peter
- Bass: Michael Volle
- Rehearsal: Andreas Herrmann
- Munich Philharmonic Choir
- Munich Philharmonic
Programme
- Helena Munktell: Valborgsmessoeld (Walpurgis Night), symphonic poem, Op 24
- Richard Strauss: Macbeth, Op 23
- Felix Mendelssohn: Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night), ballad for soloists, choir and orchestra, Op 60
