Poetic masters

DR Vocal Ensemble

The words glow and the poetry is given new life in this concert, where the DR Vocal Ensemble is conducted for the first time by the multi-award winning conductor Nils Schweckendyek — one of Europe's most sought-after conductors, who has received, among other things, an American Grammy Award, two Gramophone Editor's Choice Awards and three times the German Record Critic's Award.

With the great Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, words and tones soar in the field of tension between night and farewell. Bent Sørensen's In Wahrheit Singen gives voice to Rilke's poetry about song and human existence, and Swede Andrea Tarrodi lets Sylvia Plath's intense poem about autumn poppies unfold in sonority.

In Rautavaara's Suite de Lorca, the picture-saturated universe of the Spanish poet takes on a powerful musical expression, while the outro from György Kurtág's Omaggio a Luigi Nono brings together an entire world in a few, concentrated moments — and Anton Webern's Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen opens the door to a world where poetry sets every note in motion.

The concert culminates in Mahler's moving Ich bin der Welt abgekommen in Clytus Gottwald's masterful choral arrangement. Here Rückert's words turn into a quiet, heartfelt withdrawal from the noise of the world -- and a devotion to love, art and music.