Gurrelieder

Powerhouse conductor Donald Runnicles brings the 2016 Usher Hall concerts to a dazzling conclusion with Schoenberg’s epic mega-cantata Gurrelieder, marking his very last concert as Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

One of the grandest, most opulent musical statements ever made, the voluptuous but rarely performed Gurrelieder uses a gargantuan orchestra and chorus to tell of the love between King Waldemar and the young Tove, later murdered by Waldemar’s jealous Queen. It blends myth and magic, and influences from Wagner and Mahler in a lush, late-Romantic score of kaleidoscopic colour and immense power.

Donald Runnicles is one of today’s leading conductors, held in especially high regard in late-Romantic masterpieces. His association with the International Festival stretches back to 1965, when he sang in the Edinburgh Festival Chorus’s very first concert as an Edinburgh schoolboy.

For this historic event, Runnicles brings together a stellar cast of international soloists as well as a specially expanded Edinburgh Festival Chorus and BBC SSO for a monumental performance of a true choral blockbuster.

This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Friday 16 September at 7.30pm

Programme

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles Conductor

Edinburgh Festival Chorus
Christopher Bell Chorus Master

Anja Kampe Tove
Karen Cargill Waldtaube
Simon O’Neill Waldemar
Anthony Dean Griffey Klaus the Fool
Iain Paterson Peasant
Thomas Quasthoff Speaker

Schoenberg Gurrelieder


More information about some of the artists

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Website

Donald Runnicles
Website

Edinburgh Festival Chorus
Website

Anja Kampe
Website

Karen Cargill
Website

Simon O’Neill
Website

Anthony Dean Griffey
Website

Iain Paterson
Website

Thomas Quasthoff
Website