By Hubert Achermann

Have you ever held a first edition in your own hands? If you have, then you know the feeling of being transported through time and coming into “direct” contact with a literary masterpiece. Concerts by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra always provide me with a similar experience in the realm of music. Germany’s oldest civic orchestra has existed now for over 250 years; its collaborators include the likes of Mendelssohn, Weber, and Brahms – and it continues to maintain this heritage, as can be heard in the ensemble’s guest appearance in Lucerne on 30 August, which is devoted to Schumann.

As early as 1743, Leipzig merchants founded a performance society known as “the great concert”; in 1781 their performances were moved to the building used by textile merchants – the so-called “Gewandhaus.” The list of composers and performers who subsequently came to Leipzig reads like a who’s who of classical music. Mendelssohn was active with the ensemble for twelve years as its music director. In addition, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Richard Strauss performed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which gave the premieres of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Brahms’s Violin Concerto, and Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, among other works. Such music directors as Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Kurt Masur, and, since 2005, Riccardo Chailly have taken great care to carry on this tradition. The result is that the Gewandhaus Orchestra has maintained its unique sound up to the present and can claim a special authenticity, above all when it comes to the interpretation of romantic repertoire.

You can test this out for yourself on 30  August at LUCERNE FESTIVAL. Along with  Mendelssohn’s Overture to “Ruy Blas,” the program includes works by his colleague and friend Robert Schumann. “What euphony and deep feeling one experiences in the melodic passages,” enthused Clara Schumann (whose own pianistic career began in Leipzig) about her husband’s Cello Concerto. And lyricism and intimacy will certainly be in abundance with soloist Enrico Dindo, a musician acclaimed by no less than Mstislav Rostropovich for his “wonderfully flowing, Italianate voice.”

Schumann made his debut as a symphonist in – is it any surprise? – Leipzig. It thus follows that Chailly has also chosen one of his symphonies: the Second, in C major. But he will present the work in an unusual form, using Gustav Mahler’s instrumental retouching. This reworking attests not only to Mahler’s mastery of orchestration but to his veneration of Schumann. Mahler’s approach is a far cry from “spicing up” the original score with mere effects; instead, his interventions are always aimed at making the musical structures and details more clearly audible. So this promises to be a special concert experience in many respects, offering surprising insights into Schumann’s symphonic world while it pays homage to two anniversaries being celebrated in 2010.

Hubert Achermann
President of the Board of Trustees