hr-Sinfonieorchester

John Adams not only likes to think big, sometimes he dreams big too. For example, of a supertanker rising from the sea as a giant rocket. Dream images like this inspired him to write his large-scale orchestral work ‘Harmonielehre’ as well as the bizarre scenery of his ‘Chairman Dances’. The composer from Massachusetts is categorised - rather against his will - as belonging to the extended field of minimal music. His breathtakingly space-filling ‘Harmonielehre’ with its impressive percussion section is both late romantic-expressive and sensual in sound. But of course it is also rhythmically captivating, even hypnotic, a typical Adams. It was premiered exactly 40 years ago and has been a touchstone for every orchestra ever since. The American conductor David Robertson, who is conducting the hr-Sinfonieorchester for the first time, is regarded as a specialist. The percussion is also in the spotlight in Bartók's work; it is the third soloist in the Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra. Timpani and xylophone become melody instruments here, but the Jussen brothers on the pianos are allowed to let it rip percussively. Yes, the world is a bit upside down in this programme - and this is particularly grotesque in the exuberant revue number ‘The Chairman Dances’ by John Adams: Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, dances a foxtrot, accompanied by a US president on the bar piano - that is the bizarrely ironic setting of this effective orchestral piece. (hr-Sinfonieorchester)