art or politics? This question has not been easy for the Munich Philharmonic recently. And so the program for the season opening must be understood as political: the Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv conducts in the Isarphilharmonie. First Valentin Silvestrov’s “Elegie for String Orchestra”: Ukrainian modernism with piercing pizzicati, swaying strings – floating nervously. Then Sofia Gubaidulina’s “The Wrath of God”. A musical event in itself. Deep brass, booming, almost like a synthesizer. Then standing strings in the middle register, undefined, without support from above or below. War drums, snare crash and bell bang. Gubaidulina’s musical outbursts are clear. Lyniv dissects this mercilessness with cool accuracy. That’s clever. Because what else is there to add to this music? Any reinforcement would diminish the statement. And so the final major chord weighs even heavier as a consummation.
Max Reger’s “An die Hoffnung” then sounds in smoldering calm, more a hope for hope than real hope. The orchestra plays cautiously, but Wiebke Lehmkuhl’s voice almost sinks into it, an acoustic drop of bitterness in an otherwise pointed concert. It culminates in excerpts from Wagner’s “Parsifal”, from which Lyniv takes the glorified ballast. The prelude begins quite loudly, full of clarity. The horns sound terrific here, they just stand there without any attempt to overpower them. The cellos below scratch the edge of noise, roughening up the scenery. Lyniv puts this music, always in a moderate tempo, in a permanent negative pressure. The philharmonic choir for the knight’s procession blows gloomily from the first tier. A great magic is created, also because Lyniv is not currently relying on enchantment. The music clears up, so does the brain, and Lyniv pushes Wagner towards enlightenment with the Philharmoniker. What a grandiose idea of salvation. Also politically speaking. And it remains: thunderous applause and a faint hope that perhaps a candidate for a very present vacant position with the Philharmoniker has presented itself.