What actually makes folk music, folk music? The Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin explores this question symphonically under the direction of Brandon Keith Brown. George Walker’s Lyric for strings, with its chant-like lines and catchy quality is one of the most important components of the American concert tradition. Luciano Berio took recordings and traditions of folk songs from all over the world as a model for his Folk Songs and made them into an exciting and colourful cycle. Louis Andriessen’s Workers Union, which opens the concert, shapes a massive monophonic timbre from 20 instrumentalists without limiting individual freedom. Gustav Mahler’s folk-infused 1st Symphony closes the concert: Here one hears everything the “Volxmusik Heart” desires—from the humming and buzzing of country landscapes to Austrian barn dances to the “Bruder Jakob” canon. 

Program:

Louis Andriessen [1939–2021]  Workers Union

George Walker [1922–2018] Lyric for strings

Luciano Berio [1925–2003]  Folk Songs for Mezzo-soprano and Orchestra

Gustav Mahler [1860–1911] Symphony No. 1 D-Major