NOSPR / Downie Dear / Lamsma / A homage to Kepler. Harmony of the world / Festival Katowice Culture Nature - NOSPR

Two great works by two great German composers, created nearly a century and a half apart: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major (1806) and Paul Hindemith’s „Die Harmonie der Welt” Symphony (1951). One of the most exquisite instrumental concertos in the whole history of the genre (the great violinist Józef Joachim wrote it was a concerto of „supreme grandeur and uncompromised quality”) versus one of the greatest – without a shadow of a doubt – symphonies of the past century. A masterpiece by a “romanticising” member of the First Viennese School –  and a masterful composition by one of the greatest 20th-century Neoclassicists. Was this Neoclassicist also a „romanticising” one? If we assume that Beethoven’s Concerto is entirely governed by „the order of the heart”, the beat of which is set by the first cadenced beats of the timpani, then it seems to be poles apart from Paul Hindemith and his Symphony – the latter governed by „the order of reason”, surfacing in the music’s clear, easily discernible constructivism. Therefore: „heart or reason”? Beethoven or Hindemith? Hindemith would certainly disagree if one suggested that his Symphony was “romanticising”. Nonetheless, if we consider it from today’s perspective, is the composer’s attitude, seeking a “harmony of the world” through the Number, not Romantic in its spirit indeed? Thus, perhaps: “both heart and reason”? Hence, a modest proposal for the Honourable Listeners: let us try listening to both exquisite compositions by Bach and Hindemith, one piece as remarkable as the other, as... two sides of the same coin. We are bound to profit from doing so.   

Stanisław Kosz

Concert duration (intermission included): approximately 100 minutes

Tickets:

We encourage to purchase festival carnet with a discount (20% for at least three concerts and 25% for at least five concerts).

Check out the side events of the Katowice Culture Nature Festival!