Sergei Nakariakov and Gábor Boldoczki, trompet
Beethoven Orchestra Bonn
Dirk Kaftan, conductor

Program:

• Fazıl Say (*1970)
  Concert for two trumpets and orchestra
• Richard Strauss 1864-1949
  Also sprach Zarathustra – tone poem for large orchestra op.30

19:15: Concert introduction with Dirk Kaftan and Tilmann Böttcher on stage

The tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra von Richard Strauss also at Im Spiegel 3

In February 2022, Martin Grubinger brought the Opera House to a boil with Fazıl Say’s Percussion-Concerto. The music of the ingenious Turkish composer Fazıl Say, which oscillated between all styles, immediately swept the audience away: One did not ask oneself whether this was new music, or music from distant lands – one was drawn into a vortex of sounds, rhythms, colors. Now Fazıl Say has written a trumpet concerto. He did not settle for one trumpet, however, but took on the challenge of writing a double concerto for two of the world’s most virtuosic trumpeters: An instrumental summit meeting beyond compare! Sergei Nakariakov and Gábor Boldoczki join forces with our orchestra for a concerto that does not yet exist when this issue appears – the world premieres and first performances will have just died away when this new work by Fazıl Say comes to Bonn – exciting new territory, then! Stanley Kubrick also broke new ground in his film 2001 – A Space Odyssey: at the beginning of the film, a horde of primitive humans can be seen in the savannah. A fight for survival for water, food, shelter! The decisive moment is the one in which one of the prehistoric men gets the idea to use an animal bone as a tool. And this enlightenment is accompanied by the beginning of Richard Strauss‘ tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra. Radiant brass, the low tone roll of the organ. Like an incantation, a prayer, a ceremonial act! No one who has heard this beginning will ever forget it again, even if he does not know from which piece of music it comes. The 30-minute tone poem based on texts by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was also new territory when it appeared. One did not know what to do with it. How could one understand an orchestral piece whose parts were labeled: »Von den Hinterwäldlern« or: »Von der Wissenschaft«? It is definitely worth immersing oneself in this sensual music once one has been overwhelmed by the opening fanfare. Nine movements in four large sections, like a symphony, played by a late romantic large orchestra with abundant brass instruments and two harps.