German premiere of Detlev Glanert's "Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch" at Elbphilharmonie

Markus Stenz will conduct the German premiere of Detlev Glanert's "Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch" at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, together with the Symphoniker Hamburg and the EuropaChorAkademie on 28 November 2017. Markus Stenz also conducted the world premiere of this work in the Netherlands in 2016.

"This darkly colourful apocalypse was splendidly realised by the choir and orchestra under the unflagging Markus Stenz. He spun diaphanous choral textures and brought the climaxes to boil with infernal alchemy", said bachtrack.com about the performance in Amsterdam.

The painter Hieronymus Bosch is s-Hertogenbosch’s most famous son. He lived and worked at the town marketplace, portraying medieval life in his paintings brimming with symbolism, fantasy and riddles. Last year, the city commemorated the five hundreth anniversary of the artist's death with the international event "Bosch 500".

Detlev Glanert has been commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Bosch 500 to write a requiem for soloists, choir, organ and orchestra. The composition translates the demonic nature of Bosch’s paintings with textual counterparts into music. Glanert combines traditional requiem texts with excerpts from the manuscript collection Carmina Burana – each movement of the Requiem is accompanied by a poem about the seven deadly sins.

It was the »apocalyptic force« in particular that fascinated composer Detlev Glanert about the demonic canvases of the Dutch Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch. In the final phase of the Luther decade celebrations, Glanert’s breathtaking »Requiem für Hieronymus Bosch« can be heard in Germany for the first time. Sound magician Glanert casts the painter’s vision in moving tones, and the subject matter is entirely Bosch’s own: »Bosch’s soul – or that of another poor sinner – is summoned to the Last Judgement and accused of committing the Seven Deadly Sins«.

The work was also recorded with Markus Stenz and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO17005) .

28 November 2017 | 8pm | Hamburg | Elbphilharmonie

Symphoniker Hamburg
EuropaChorAkademie
Aga Mikolaj
soprano
Ursula Hesse von den Steinen mezzo-soprano
Gerhard Siegel tenor
Nathan Berg bass
Leo von Doeseler organ

Detlev Glanert: Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch (German premiere)

> read the review of the concert in Amsterdam at bachtrack.com

> read a review of the CD at The Guardian

> information about the concert in Hamburg

Sabine Knodt