Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gurre-Lieder with the Concertgebouw Orchestra

Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder

Arnold Schoenberg was born 150 years ago. The Concertgebouw Orchestra celebrates this with a special performance of his Gurre-Lieder . The cantata is the crowning achievement of Late Romanticism, but is rarely performed due to its massive instrumentation. The Concertgebouw Orchestra performed the work twice in 1921 under the baton of the composer. More than a century later, the grand and compelling cantata is performed under the baton of honorary conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly.

Riccardo Chailly

Riccardo Chailly has been committed to the music of Arnold Schönberg for many years and regularly conducted his music during his time as chief of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, but he did not get around to the Gurre-Lieder in Amsterdam. Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder were high on his wish list – because of the challenge of keeping the enormous performance apparatus together, but especially because of the beautiful musical details. At the Danish medieval castle Gurre, a love tragedy takes place around King Waldemar and his mistress Tove. Among the many highlights are the Song of the Wood Pigeon and the orchestral rendition of Waldemar's undead vassals as they storm through the castle rattling their chains.