“Fairytale-like” was the title of the Sindelfingen Symphony Orchestra’s most recent concert. Strictly speaking, this title only applied to the suite from Peter Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Swan Lake,” which was presented somewhat shortened. However, the other two compositions that were played were magically beautiful. They were Schubert’s Eighth Symphony, the so-called “Unfinished”, and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64.
Schubert’s symphony contains many dark shades, but also wonderfully singing melodies. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Violin Concerto, which is part of the standard repertoire of all great violinists, shines with poetic and elegant melodies and cheerful orchestral colors.
The soloist in Mendelsohn’s evergreen was the Venezuelan-born violinist Fabiola Gamarra Colina, who studied at the University of Stuttgart, is currently a member of the Württemberg Philharmonic in Reutlingen and also deals intensively with chamber music and solo challenges. Her confident technique brought the piece to life, and she was also able to assert herself over the orchestra with her radiant tone. Her great strength was also the quiet parts, to which she was always able to give a good, lyrical sound presence.
She rightly received enthusiastic applause from the audience. Some people probably would have liked to hear an encore, but that didn’t happen. All three compositions that evening sounded like a fairytale.
Tragic: All of the evening’s composers die young
Unfortunately, the circumstances of the composers’ deaths were not fairytale-like. Schubert died at the age of 31 from painful syphilis. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy died at the age of 38 after suffering several strokes. Peter Tchaikovsky was homosexual and had a lover from the upper military class. The circumstances of his death, which is said to have been suicide, are unclear: an honorary court at the university may have sentenced him to death by suicide.
The large Sindelfingen Orchestra under its conductor Christina Krebs gave Schubert’s “Unfinished” dramatic accents. A sometimes somewhat sharp fortissimo contrasted effectively with a sonorous pianissimo, so that an ostensibly overly beautiful sound, with which the piece is sometimes played incorrectly, was avoided. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Violin Concerto was the shining highlight of this symphony concert. Once again it became clear that the communal experience of a good concert, the lively conversations during the break and after the concert, is a great social action for society.
Thunderous applause from an enthusiastic audience
Finally, Tchaikovsky’s ballet music for “Swan Lake” contains many well-known orchestral hits. The famous main theme of swans runs like a guiding theme throughout the entire composition. The music has also been used at many state occasions in Russia’s history (the death of Leonid Brezhnev, for example). Of course, the many ballet interpretations are also legendary, such as Rudolf Nureyev’s Viennese version with Margot Fonteyn.
The Sindelfingen Symphony Orchestra enthusiastically implemented the emotional requirements. This applies both to the full orchestral sound and to the quieter parts, such as the famous waltz or the scene in which the solo harp contributes remarkable sound accents. Thunderous applause greeted the audience.
