Live recording from the Philharmonie Berlin, 1 May 2021

Berliner Philharmoniker

Kirill Petrenko, conductor

The European Concert 2021 took place in the foyer of the philharmonic hall in Berlin. Often overshadowed by the actual concert hall with its revolutionary vineyard layout, this part of Hans Scharoun's spectacular building is no less extraordinary and deserves to play a starring role for once. The asymmetrical surfaces, staircases, supporting pillars and galleries repeatedly open to surprising, even confusing perspectives; the path to the music does not run directly, but around corners, constantly changing vistas, stimulating reflection even as one approaches. Since the inception of the lunch concerts at the latest, the space has been established as a gracious performance venue in its own right. This year’s European Concert programme reflects the special situation we find ourselves in, and plays with proximity and distance, with works not only for a large orchestra, but also for differentiated and spatially separated subsets of the orchestra.

Blacher: Fanfare Festive (premiered at the opening of the Philharmonie, 1963) 
Ives: The Unanswered Question 
Mozart: Serenade No. 8 in D Major, K. 286 (269a) Notturno
Penderecki: Emanations for 2 string orchestras
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 in G Major, Op. 55
Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Progr. No.: 6584

TV Director: Henning Kasten

Duration:  85'

Produced by EuroArts Music in coproduction with RBB, CCTV, NHK

Nico and the Navigators

Kuss Quartett

Beethoven between force and freedom. 

For more than 20 years, Nico and the Navigators have been among the most important independent music theatre ensembles in Europe. With their "staged concerts", celebrated both by press and audiences alike, the Berlin-based company has developed an extraordinarily new approach to musical works.

For the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth, Nico and the Navigators and the Kuss Quartet premiere their latest production "Force & Freedom".

Duration: 87'

TV Directors: Nicola Hümpel, Myriam Hoyer

Produced by EuroArts Music & Nico and the Navigators