Programme ‘Angels’

With Angels, the Stiftfestival once again rises above the Dreams and Prayers theme. In this way, Maxim Shalygin puts the bayan in the spotlight in a masterful version of the reflection on what to do next, written at the beginning of the Covid period. And so Daniel Rowland solos in perhaps the most beautiful violin concerto of the twentieth century in an intimate chamber musical version, Dem Andenken eines Engels by Alban Berg. Naturally, so much angelic singing requires silent reflection. That is exactly what the second part of this concert offers with John Tavener’s meditative Prayer of the Heart in which Barbara Kozelj rises to great heights and Gavin Bryars’ impressive cry for humanity: the classic Jesus Blood Never Failed me yet based on the moving recording of a homeless person who sings a flawed version of the hymn of the same name. Angelic singing and prayer in the form of dreams, visions and cries of hope and love.

Program
Maxim Shalygin: Angel, for bayan and strings
Bach: koraal ‘Es ist genug’
Berg/arr. Abendroth: Violin Concerto, ‘Ter nagedachtenis aan een Engel’
Mahler/arr. V. Mendelssohn: Adagietto
Taverner: Prayer of the Heart
Golijov: How slow the wind
Gavin Bryars: Jesus blood never failed me