"Liebe und Schicksal"

A bright, pulsating red and a red that sinks into murmuring darkness - the symphony orchestra of the Bremen University of the Arts (HfK) invites you to a varied interplay of these sound colors on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, 7:30 pm, in the Glocke. Musical director Thomas Klug presents the major orchestral concert under the motto “Love and Fate”.

The concert evening will be opened by two HfK students who are completing their concert exam. One part of the examination is the “Solo Concerto with Orchestra”. The examination board has selected the Serenade after Plato's “Symposion” (1953) by Leonard Bernstein for Yu Mita (violin) and the Concerto for Oboe in F major BWV 1053R by Johann Sebastian Bach for Minghao Zhang (oboe).

There is no evidence that Bach actually wrote an oboe concerto. There are only so-called reconstructions, hence the “R” after the number in the catalog of works (WV), which are more likely to be transcriptions - in this case of the harpsichord concerto in E major BWV 1053 (around 1738).

Plato's “Symposion” (“The Banquet”) describes a philosophical drinking bout with speeches in honor of the god Eros.  Leonard Bernstein set this meeting to music in five movements. The union of physical and spiritual love thus becomes sonically virulent.

Klug has included Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 (1888) on the theme of fate in the program, which is interwoven with a motif of fate that the composer initially understands as a complete surrender to “the unfathomable counsel of Providence”. The theme develops from a sombre, lamenting E minor mood in the clarinets and low strings to a solemn, radiant E major in the brass finale. Thomas Klug remains skeptical: "Is this a victory over fate or a surrender to fate? In my opinion, Tchaikovsky leaves this open and leaves the interpretation up to each individual listener."

Tickets are available here.