Landesjugendorchester Hamburg / Ann-Beth Solvang / Johannes Witt

The Hamburg State Youth Orchestra (LJO) has been an integral part of the young music scene for over 55 years as the select orchestra of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Around 90 musicians aged 14-25 will perform works by great late Romantic composers in the spring concerts conducted by Johannes Witt.

Richard Strauss’ songs »Zueignung,« »Wiegenlied,« and »Meinem Kinde und Morgen!« impressively demonstrate the diversity of his early and middle songwriting. They come from four different song cycles, but all works are united by an intimacy and emotionality that is expressed in lyrical arcs and passionate urgency. Strauss wrote several songs especially for his wife, the singer Pauline Strauss-de Ahna – he gave her the song collection including »Morgen!« as a wedding gift. The composer recalled that his wife performed this song in particular »with an expression and poetry that I have never heard since.« »Meinem Kinde«, on the other hand, was written after the birth of Strauss’s only son. Originally composed for voice and piano, all the songs were later colorfully orchestrated by Strauss.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, often called »Titan,« marks his impressive entry into the symphonic genre. Composed between 1884 and 1888, this large-scale work combines late Romantic expressiveness with sound ideas that were innovative for Mahler’s time. The composer unfolds a vast musical landscape: from the mysteriously floating beginning to folk motifs and dramatic outbursts. Particularly characteristic is the third movement, which surprises with a dark, alienated version of »Brother Jacob.« In the final movement, the symphony finally culminates in a festive apotheosis. With this work, Mahler laid the foundation for his lifelong quest to shape the symphony as a blueprint for the world.

The patron of the LJO Hamburg is the First Mayor, Dr. Peter Tschentscher. The ensemble is sponsored by the Landesmusikrat in der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg e. V. (State Music Council of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg) and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media.

PERFORMERS

Landesjugendorchester Hamburg orchestra

Ann-Beth Solvang mezzo-soprano

Johannes Witt conductor

PROGRAM

Richard Strauss
Zueignung op. 10/1

Richard Strauss
Wiegenlied op. 41/1

Richard Strauss
Meinem Kinde op. 37/3

Richard Strauss
Morgen! op. 27/4

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 1 in D major