Konzerthaus, Berlin
“Totenfeier”, first Movement, Symphony No. 2 ( arr. Joolz Gale 2021)
“Mädchenblumen” Op. 22 (1888, arr. Eberhard Kloke 2021)
Chamber Music No. 1, Op. 24 No. 1 (1921-22)
PROGRAMME
Making great scores resound with small forces – that was the goal of conductor Joolz Gale when he founded Ensemble Mini in 2010. What usually requires 60, 80 or more musicians on stage was to be reimagined with less than 20. The doubtful curiosity that this undertaking met with soon turned into astonished enthusiasm. The arrangements of huge works such as Mahler’s Tenth Symphony not only sound more transparent, making details stand out in lucid clarity instead of being drowned in a wash of sound, but they also capture the colours and atmospheres of the originals. When Ensemble Mini appears at Young Euro Classic, as an alternative for the Jovem Orquestra Portuguesa necessitated by the pandemic, two new arrangements will be heard for the very first time: “Totenfeier”, an early version of the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, arranged by the conductor; as well as the rarely heard Mädchenblumen by Richard Strauss, with the celebrated soprano Marlis Petersen as the soloist. The concert ends with the Chamber Music No. 1 by Paul Hindemith with its “Finale: 1921”, which has lost none of its explosive and vivacious character 100 years on.
