The magic of the beginning, which has been inherent in the Isarphilharmonie for weeks, still doesn’t want to go away. On Thursday evening, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša was allowed to venture into the new acoustic realms for the first time. Hrůša considers “The Mystery of Time”, a musical meditation about the time of his compatriot Miloslav Kabeláč, to be the ideal opening piece to test the acoustics of the new hall. Small, strictly constructed motifs flow in minimal music fashion into a crescendo pull that Hrůša lets swell with a stoic pulse and at the same time emotional intensity.
Isabelle Faust’s performance of Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto in D minor is also characterized by a lot of feeling. In doing so, they do not seem to bother colleagues’ opinions such as “lies ungrateful” or “unplayable”. From the almost musical introduction to the dramatic cadenza in the second movement to the Passacaglia theme in the third, Faust masters every required timbre, knows exactly how to tackle her “Sleeping Beauty” Stradivarius – in pizzicato as in flageolet. The depths of her violin seem to demand more attention for the same precision and radiance that fist effortlessly lift from the hand. But despite all the technical efforts that Britten demands here, Faust is particularly evident in her emotional commitment, literally written on his face.
The encore – from a compositional point of view not a “crowd pleaser” – reinforces the impression of a fearless and approachable artist. Visibly relaxed and hungry for the finale, the orchestra now becomes a soloist. Wings, bells and imposing percussion allow Shostakovich’s First Symphony, the work of a 19-year-old student, to shine through his characteristic style. Hrůša, whose left hand leads through the piece sometimes in gentle waves, sometimes as a threatening claw, elicits the emotional depth created in the piece from the sound body and thus seals the intense first contact.