Echoes of Bach

"My father's music has higher intentions; it is not meant to fill the ear, but to set the heart in motion." (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach)

When exploring new sound spaces, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra loves to reach for the full and play with elective affinities. From J. S. Bach, the alpha and omega of music, to Francis Poulenc, "half monk, half rascal", the SKO unites under one church roof what are seemingly very different: Ravel and Bowie, Mozart and Duruflé, Sibelius and Shaw, solo viola and organ... And yet the program has a common denominator, namely to make everything vibrate between heaven and earth for which man cannot find words. A unique instrument was chosen for the first Sternstunde with organ. With 81 stops and 5366 pipes, the Mühleisen organ in the collegiate church is a true superlative of organ building. Abbey cantor and church music director Kay Johannsen, an organist, composer and improviser famous far beyond Stuttgart's borders, is a virtuoso and can conjure up crescendos from the softest pianissimo to the most powerful fortissimo. A concert event full of mysticism with the "queen among instruments" (Mozart), in which the SKO plays the colorfully illuminated church space in changing formations and from different positions.

With:
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
Kay Johannsen, organ
Manuel Hofer, viola & conductor

Program:

Johann Sebastian Bach
Fantasy in G minor BWV 542 for organ

Caroline Shaw
"In manus tuas" for viola solo

Maurice Ravel
Très lent from the string quartet

David Bowie
"Sense of doubt" [&] "Moss Garden" (arr. for string orchestra)

Maurice Duruflé
Toccata from the Suite op. 5 for organ

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
Prélude No. 2 in G minor KV 404a for string trio

Jean Sibelius
String Trio in G minor

Francis Poulenc
Concerto for organ, strings and timpani

Concert introduction at 19:30