Vladimir Jurowski conductor
René Pape bass
Katharina Thalbach narrator
Elisabeth Meister soprano

Mendelssohn Symphony 5 (Reformation)
Mahler Totenfeier (became first movement of Symphony 2)
Torsten Rasch Meinz Herz brennt (UK première)

Mein Herz brennt are deceptively abrupt, harsh words for music that is bewitchingly beautiful. Torsten Rasch's songs – sung, whispered, shouted, accompanied by a stunning spectrum of orchestral sound - are a mesmerising development of the Romantic musical language of late Mahler, expressed in terms that are dramatic, tense, and passionate. My Heart is on Fire, conceived as a classical song cycle, uses poetry from Messer (Knives) by Till Lindemann (lead singer of rock band Rammstein, for which some of the lyrics were written). Lindemann's poems are inspired by nineteeth-century authors Rückert and Rimbaud and express the kind of emotions, such as profoundly wounding love and loss, that contemporary writers avoid in honour of our age of glossy enjoyment and aversion to pain. These roots from a deeper past are reflected in the music, which comes as a contemporary counterpart to the intense, soul-searching song cycles of Wagner and Mahler.

Were you there? Were you there? Was it a ‘super-romantic tidal wave of sound’ or ‘a grotesque and self-indulgent caricature’? This programme divided the critics; click on the links below to see what they thought.

www.guardian.co.uk by Tim Ashley / June 2009
www.ft.com by Richard Fairman / June 2009
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk by Hilary Finch / June 2009

Mahler's Totenfeier is the composer's first completed orchestral piece. He later used it, making only minimal changes, as the first movement of his monumental second symphony. Audience members may be interested in listening carefully for differences between Totenfeier and the more familiar, later version.

To hear the first movement of Mahler's Symphony 2, for which Totenfeier is the basis, or extracts from Mendelssohn's Symphony 5 select a track below to open the music file. (Windows Media Player required.)
Mahler: Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection" - movement I: Allegro maestoso
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5, "Reformation" - II. Allegro vivace
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5, "Reformation" - IV. Andante con moto - Allegro vivace - maestoso

René Pape spoke to Erica Jeal about his part in Mein Herz brennt in the August 08 issue of Opera magazine:
Then there are projects that take him out of the opera house proper. One is Mein Herz brennt, by Pape's friend Torsten Rasch, premiered in 2003, which he will sing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Festival Hall next May. An unlikely song cycle, it takes numbers by the German industrial rock band Rammstein and diffuses them through a kind of Expressionist orchestral prism, ending up with something that has more in common with Berg and Mahler than heavy metal. ('This extraordinary work has disturbed and excited me more than any new music I've encountered for some years', wrote Robin Holloway in the Spectator; the Southbank, showing less confidence in its audience, has declined to mention Rammstein in its online marketing.) ‘Some people were really shocked that I was doing it. We were very happy that Deutsche Grammophon took over and made the CD, and even more happy that it is going into the orchestral repertoire.’ Does he ever listen to Rammstein? ‘Yes, I like this group very much.’ What other music does he listen to? ‘It’s easier to say what I don’t like, which is bad hip-hop and rap. But I like good hip-hop, like Eminem and Snoop Dogg. Growing up, I listened to everything that it was possible to hear behind the Iron Curtain.’

Find out more about My Heart is on Fire and Torsten Rasch's soundworld.

6.15pm-6.45pm
FREE Royal Festival Hall
Torsten Rasch talks about the UK première of his work Mein Herz brennt

Audio Samples:
1) Conductor Vladimir Jurowski introduces the Rasch - taken from a pre-concert talk at the start of the season; 2) extract from Mein Herz brennt