Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Richard Wagner: “Lohengrin” WWV 75, Prelude to Act 1
Oliver Gruhn: “Sommerliebe,” cycle of orchestral songs based on texts
by Hermann Hesse and Ricarda Huch
Richard Strauss: “Der Rosenkavalier,” orchestral suite from the
opera of the same name
This music is “blue, with an opiate-like, narcotic effect.” That is how Friedrich Nietzsche described the prelude to Richard Wagner’s romantic opera “Lohengrin,” which transports the listener into the world of the medieval Knights of the Grail.
Richard Strauss’s “Rosenkavalier” is a tribute to Vienna and the Viennese waltz. The “Comedy in Music” brings Maria Theresa and the Rococo era to life, even though, strictly speaking, people were still dancing the minuet back then.
Strauss’s sumptuous suite brings together highlights from the stage work.
The orchestral song is Oliver Gruhn’s preferred genre. Among other works, the Rostock-based composer and trombonist has completed and orchestrated song fragments by Richard Strauss. Based on poems by Hermann Hesse and Ricarda Huch, he wrote the song cycle “Sommerliebe,” which was performed in its entirety for the first time in September 2024 by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing, with soprano Diana Schnürpel.
