Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder with Riccardo Chailly

The Concertgebouw Orchestra plays Schoenberg's overwhelming Gurre-Lieder under the baton of honorary conductor Riccardo Chailly.

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

Riccardo Chailly
Riccardo Chailly has been committed to the music of Arnold Schoenberg for many years, regularly conducting 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. In the Danish medieval castle of Gurre, a love tragedy unfolds around King Waldemar and his mistress Tove. Among the many highlights are the Song of the Wood Dove and the orchestral rendition of Waldemar's undead vassals rattling their chains as they storm through the castle.