Press
13. 09. 2009
Saison Opening with Shih -Premiere in the Kiel Castle
Kiel Philharmonic: Strengths in Strauss and Vavic's Fingertips
Kiel - The Kiel Philharmonic started its season impressively: with a full complement of players for Strauss, a new first concertmaster, a highly sensitive soloist and a world premiere by Shih which touched and moved many in the audience.
The Vienna-based Chinese composer wrote a Requiem for Kiel that is based on a darly expressive poem by Else Lasker-Schüler and paints a philosophy that is audibly positive, ultimately. It was a good thing that Eva Heußel's program notes and Fritzsch's comments during the stage changes elicited so much understanding for the amorphously wavy areas of sound in the strings, the funereal grumblings of the basses, the nervous timpani rolls and the solitary drifting veils of sound from the piano. However, this remarkably contemporary, tradition-free piano concerto, which put a noisy spell on its audience and brought its composer Shih (who was present) generous applause, unfolded its particular fascination due to Anika Vavic's sensitive touch. The Serbian pianist filled the cascading etudes of her virtuosic part, the glittering descant and the rumbling basses, the minimalistically circling patterns with plenty of sense and sensibility.
Translation: Alexa Nieschlag
[ original article ]