Over to the 2012 Lucerne Festival for a performance by The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, recorded live on August 27, 2012 by RTS-Radio in Geneva.
Sadly, this is only the second half as the first half missed getting recorded. But the second half is still fun and it features the band going through a far-reaching repertoire to a very enthusiastic Lucerne audience.
Featured on this half of the program – Jean Françaix: Aubade – Manuel de Fall: Psyche – Maurice Ravel: Vocalise-Étude = Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann Die 12 in Bossa-Nova op. 36 and Libertango by Astor Piazzola. There is also an encore; the venerable Le Vie en Rose.
The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic have long been a prominent institution in international musical life. It was in 1972 that a radio production of Julius Klengel’s Hymnus for twelve cellos with Philharmonic members became the impetus for founding a solo ensemble of this formation. Its exceptional tonal and virtuosic qualities soon took worldwide concert audiences by storm, and now the 12 Cellists enjoy a remarkable international following.
Whether they’re playing the classics, jazz, tango or avant-garde, listeners are invariably fascinated by the wide range of unique and intoxicating timbres that these twelve cellos can produce, and their mixture of seriousness and humour, of depth and lightness, appeals to audiences of all ages. Among the contemporary composers who have written works specially for the “12” are Boris Blacher, Sebastian Currier, Brett Dean, Tan Dun, Péter Eötvös, Jean Françaix, Sofia Gubaidulina, Christian Jost, Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann, Arvo Pärt, Wolfgang Rihm, Kaija Saariaho, Frangis Ali-Sade, Pēteris Vasks, Iannis Xenakis und Udo Zimmermann.
They have accompanied the German president as ambassadors of Berlin and appeared on several occasions at the Japanese Imperial Palace. Their CDs regularly make the charts and in 2001, 2005 and 2017 were awarded the Echo Klassik prize.
Music to soothe the savage beast of Wednesday (or at least bring it down a couple notches).
No need to crank it up – just enjoy it.
