A new theatre for Florence or, better, a new “music centre” of European level.

A centre that when completed will include a theatre for opera, a concert hall, and on the roof an outdoor “cavea” for different events.

For now, Florence and its music lovers can be satisfied of the new theater built in the occasion of the 150° Anniversary of the Unification of Italy of which Florence was Capital from 1865 to 1870.

 

After the inaugural concert of Zubin Mehta, December 21th, who is also chief conductor of the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale (who played works by Bussotti and Beethoven), Claudio Abbado stepped on the podium of the new hall, to brings us into the disturbing and extraordinarily modern world of Gustav Mahler.

Gently he brings the audience through Mahler’s vertiginous world, after a performance of Brahms’ Schicksalslied, an emotional synthesis man’s loneliness and its astonishment in front of the mysteries of Life and Death.

There is no consolation in the intense Romantic verses by Hölderlin on which Brahms’ melodies are. The Choir and the Orchestra seem united in the same breath of astonishment and death. Particularly the Choir finds accents of intimate and credible sorrow, surely thanks to the magnetic presence of Abbado on the podium.

The Italian conductor interprets every single note, wonderfully helped by the orchestra (the orchestra of Florence and Mozart Bologna Orchestra, fused together for this occasion). We have been impressed by the dark colour of the strings, the terrific woodwinds, the incredibly soft and almost inaudible pianissimos, all elicited by the really good acoustics of the new theatre.

Then, the Symphony nr. 9. Extreme fruit of Mahler‘s maturity, the last to be completed by the author, and the most meditated and most cared among his Symphonies. We are unable to  understand where Mahler’s testament ends and where Abbado’s starts: it is almost like a four hands last will.

At the end we are troubled by questions too great for us. We would have been content to leave in silence, without applause, but the concert has its own rules
. A foreseeable triumph is the conclusion of this unforgettable performance. 

By Fabio Bardelli

(translation from italian to english Bruno Tredicine)

 

Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra Mozart Bologna, Chorus master Piero Monti

Conductor                  CLAUDIO ABBADO

JOHANNES BRAHMS: Schicksalslied op
. 54, for choir and orchestra

GUSTAV MAHLER: Symphony nr. 9

Florence, Italy, New Florence Opera House, december the 23rd, 2011

Doch uns ist gegeben,

Auf keiner Stätte zu ruhn.

Es schwinden, es fallen

Die leidenden Menschen

Blindlings von einer

Stunde zur andern,

Wie Wasser von Klippe

Zu Klippe geworfen,

Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab.

(Friedrich Hölderlin)