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Petr Popelka played double bass in the Dresden Staatskapelle for ten years before devoting himself entirely to conducting. The chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is now returning to his former ensemble for a symphony concert. He is bringing with him a programme of Russian works that runs the gamut from Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky to Alfred Schnittke. The latter’s Viola Concerto is one of his most significant works, containing an array of musical references drawn from the late-Romantic and Baroque periods as well as contemporary music. This »polystylistic« approach reflects Schnittke’s inner conflict, which can be attributed to the exploration of existential themes as well as his own deteriorating health.

Awartime injury forced the talented conductor André Caplet to give up his post as musical director at the Paris Opera. And so the musician, who was born in Le Havre in 1878, soon devoted himself entirely to composition. As a pupil of Claude Debussy, he abandoned his teacher’s Impressionism in favour of the avant-garde, for example in the music he composed for the modern concert harp. In 1919, Caplet wrote a »Fantastic Tale« for harp and string quartet inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s story »The Masque of the Red Death«. The work wonderfully captures both the dark and ghostly atmosphere of the tale while reflecting on the composer’s own experiences of war.

Only ten years separate the two main works at this concert, and yet Ottorino Respighi and Igor Stravinsky are truly worlds apart. The orchestral suite »Trittico botticelliano« was inspired by the paintings of the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Respighi breathes life into the picturesque scenes through his impressionistic colouring. With its gentle elegance, the suite is one of the composer’s most lyrical works. Stravinsky’s concerto »Dumbarton Oaks«, on the other hand, is influenced by Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. In three movements, its clear structure and contrapuntal density combined with rhythmic energy conspire to create one of the composer’s most striking works for chamber orchestra.

The works in this concert have a common theme, namely our connection with nature. Mahler’s settings of the poems from »Des Knaben Wunderhorn« refract life and nature through a melancholic lens. They incorporate folk tunes to paint a picture of a world in which human experience is closely interwoven with nature. Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony is also more than just a musical depiction of nature. While the »Pastoral« gives us idyllic landscapes, babbling brooks and cheerful village festivities, for Beethoven these are not merely a backdrop but rather reflect the feelings of the observer, thereby creating a unique connection between man and nature.

When Rossini died in 1868, Verdi suggested that Italy’s leading composers join forces to write a funeral mass. He himself contributed the concluding »Libera me«. However, the project was abandoned shortly before the premiere. Five years later, Verdi decided to write his own requiem, into which he incorporated the existing material. This work was not written for the church, but for the concert hall. Powerful emotions and dramatic contrasts combine to create a stream of deeply felt music that underscores the urgent message of the sacred texts: humility in the face of death and the hope of salvation to be gained through supplication.

Initially focusing on the four »Wunderhorn« symphonies, Daniele Gatti continues his Mahler cycle with the Fourth. To elucidate the internal connections within this work, Gatti combines it with six songs from the original collection »Des Knaben Wunderhorn«. The Fourth is the composer’s shortest and most accessible symphony. With its bright and cheerful atmosphere, it is something of a contrast to the rather more sombre first three symphonies. Three instrumental movements open the work before the last movement presents an innocent, even childlike »Wunderhorn« song performed by a soprano, creating a mood of unadulterated bliss that is rare in Mahler.

When seeking out the forerunners of the influential »Mannheim School«, one often stumbles across the name of Johann Evangelist Brandl, born in Regensburg in 1760. Even if he never actually belonged to the leading lights of the musical avant-garde, Brandl was nevertheless in close touch with prominent musicians at the Bruchsal court of the Bishop of Speyer. They helped him when the bishop was forced to flee the invading French in 1792, who finally conquered Bruchsal seven years later. Brandl’s new place of work became the Francophile court of the Grand Duke of Baden. There, until his death in 1837, he composed numerous works for his beloved bassoon – including the Quintet, Op. 63.