2018.02.03

Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa THE 398TH SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT

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SAT 03 FEBRUARY 2018, 2 P.M.
ISHIKAWA ONGAKUDO Concert Hall

Michiyoshi Inoue Conductor
Alexander Kniazev Cello

Paul Hindemith Overture "Amor und Psyche"
Dmitri Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107
Felix Mendelssohn String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20
Paul Hindemith Symphony "Mathis der Maler"

SS¥6,000- S¥5,000- A¥4,000- B¥3,000- Starlight¥1,000-
INQUIRY Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa TEL 076-232-0171

【Message】

In fact, this world is full of miracles and wonderful coincidences, I think.
The origin of yesterday’s miraculous performance by the soloist Alexander Kniazev is an event from two years ago, where a strange guy with a unique hairstyle like a bushy wig talked to me from inside a taxi, when I was walking in the Omotesando neighborhood. Who should come but the very man with whom I played Shostakovich’s “Cello Concerto No.2” in France ten years earlier. Then we made a promise to perform together, again. That’s how yesterday’s concert with Shostakovich’s first Concerto happened, two years after our unexpected reunion at the roadside.
In the past, Kniazev had lost his wife because of a serious car accident: he himself had hung between life and death and his instrument had been broken, too. A miracle happened though: he recovered to come back to the stage and today, he fascinates the audience with his great performance surpassing even Rostropovich. Actually, Kniazev is also an excellent organist in Russia, his home country.
The Symphony “Matthias the Painter” is Hindemith’s extremely famous work that I conducted many times over when I was in Europe. The third movement called “Temptation of St. Anthony” is a piece fully embodying the irresistible “charm of temptation” that human beings named sin to keep it away. In my boyhood, this movement seemed to me a temptation in a dream.
Requiring a big orchestra, this symphony is impossible to be played by a chamber orchestra like the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (OEK), usually. But yesterday, a miracle (?) happened: we played our trump card, by having a bigger number of extra musicians than the number of the official members. This could be considered as one of the daring ideas I had during my long tenure as the Music Director of the OEK.
Before this symphony, a masterpiece of chamber music was programmed: some members from the OEK performed without conductor, around their guest concert mistress Kotowa Machida, Mendelssohn’s octet. No orchestra but the OEK could give this kind of program.
The program’s success depended on the musicians other than the conductor, so to speak. But in reality, it was a program requiring physical strength and left me sweltering. In addition, our overture was the completely unknown piece “Amor and Psyche” by Hindemith, a work reminding of dancers such as Kaiji Moriyama and Nina Ananiashvili.
On February 1st, the Gakuyu-kai group composed of people representing the OEK’s subscribers organized a farewell party specially for me. It was a joyful gathering, where they played a video made for the Hokuriku Asahi Broadcasting and displayed photograph panels from some of our funny concerts. It was a pay-your-own-way party. I’m very, very grateful to Mr. Yamada and everyone who kindly planed this event.