Concert Season Subscription 2023/24 – 43rd concert season/4th concert

ALBAN BERG ENSEMBLE WIEN
Sebastian Gürtler, violin
Régis Bringolf, violin
Subin Lee, viola
Florian Berner, cello
Alexander Neubauer, clarinet
Silvia Careddu, flute
Ariane Haering, piano

An artistic and creative vision, openness to everything innovative and a unique instrumental line-up are the foundations of the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien, which revives the mentality of the Second Viennese School. The assembly of selected musicians, members of the renowned Hugo Wolf Quartet and established Viennese instrumentalists, winners of international competitions who play in the best orchestras of Austria and Germany, is undoubtedly one of the great chamber ensembles today. The ensemble, formed in 2016 and named after the Austrian composer and pianist Alban Berg, does not limit itself stylistically. Instead, it draws from a vast source of chamber music, past and present. The core of the repertoire are compositions from the turn of the century – works by “hyper-romantics” on the cusp of modernism that (furthermore) explore new sound and timbral possibilities: these include a stripped-down version of Mahler’s Adagio that opens up new harmonic horizons, Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony, which follows the direction of the composer’s new musical identity, and Schnittke’s rarely heard elaboration of the second movement of Mahler’s unfinished quintet. Firm and clear sound imbued with tension, but never intrusive, an inviting purity that allows the listener to internalise the music, a new concert program, all this and more awaits us at the fourth concert’s season ticket in May.

PROGRAMME:

G. Mahler: Quartet movement for piano, violin, viola and cello in A minor (fragment)
A. Schnittke: Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello – 2nd movement (Scherzo from Gustav Mahler’s Sketches)
A. Schönberg (arr. A. Webern): Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major, Op. 9
G. Mahler (arr. M. Harry): Adagio from Symphony No. 10