Name: 4th Philharmonic Concert: Am Abgrund
Start: 2024-12-01T00:00:00
Location: Konzerthaus Dortmund

Gabriel Feltz

Dortmunder Philharmoniker

The two symphonies in the program reflect a world on the brink in a deeply impressive way. Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem was written in 1940, shortly after the start of the Second World War. The symphony is a confessional work. The convinced pacifist Britten, then just 27 years old, takes a stand against the war in it as clearly "as possible". The reference to the Requiem, the funeral service in the Catholic liturgy, is expressed in the titles of the three movements of the compactly designed symphony, even without Britten calling in a choir or solo voices. The piece describes an arc that leads from mourning and a dance of death protesting against the madness of war to the rapturous calm in the last movement, "Requiem aeternam."