Musikfest Berlin 2015

21 September 2015
WRITTEN BY
Henja Semmler

Henja Semmler

Musician

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Playing a concert in my hometown is a very special and rather exceptional thing. Rehearsing and performing in Berlin with the MCO is even more special!


I think every MCO musician who has played with our orchestra in their hometown knows what I mean: For me it's so extraordinary to see all the MCO colleagues in Berlin, exciting and almost solemn at the same time, that I always feel a bit like a child on Christmas Eve! This time we had the privilege to hold all our rehearsals in the marvellous chamber music hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, which actually has a perfect size for a small chamber orchestra and fabulous acoustics.

I played only one of the two pieces of the programme, Carl Nielsen's 6th symphony in a chamber version arranged by Hans Abrahamsen. I must admit that it was the first piece by Nielsen I ever played! We were very lucky to have two Danish experts to lead our rehearsals: our conductor Thomas Søndergård, whom I knew from his career as a percussionist playing quite a lot with us in the early years of the MCO, and the Danish composer, in this case the arranger, Hans Abrahamsen. Thomas did a great job revealing the peculiarities of Nielsen's music to us and guiding us brilliantly through a tricky score, and so did Hans when he joined us from the second rehearsal. Thomas told us repeatedly that we should try to make it sound more Danish and how we could achieve that. On the second day, however, he once warned us that we sounded even too Danish already, and I was kind of proud!


It wasn't easy to keep a good balance between the wind and the string instruments: Only five string players had to compete with a much larger crowd of wind players! Also, it was quite a challenge to play a pretty difficult part that was originally written for a whole violin section just on my own. As usual, the enthusiasm for the music helped me find my courage. Having been a little sceptical about the piece before the first rehearsals, also because of its extremely difficult passages, I learned to like and appreciate it more and more. Especially the humorous parts, but as well the beauty of the melodies and the Nordic melancholy and gloom that contrast the prevailing blithe atmosphere of the piece captivated me. It was an amazing experience to perform it in the almost sold-out Philharmonie, inspired by Thomas's conducting, by my colleagues' beautiful playing and by a very attentive and grateful audience. Many of my friends and relatives were listening in the hall, which is always such a nice feeling.

As a violinist it's very unusual to play only half of the programme - normally we are busy all the time! What might be a regular, inevitable frustration for musicians of other instrument sections was a rare gift to me: After playing myself, I could just go into the audience and enjoy a magnificent performance of Alban Berg's meaningful, enigmatic, deeply touching Kammerkonzert. Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov, both regular soloists with us, joined Thomas and our wind players and played as wonderfully as ever.

A memorable evening! What's more, it was Maggie's birthday, and a few hours after the concert my mother's birthday. So many reasons to celebrate! Better than Christmas...

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