July 13th
The Performance that “Made Hearts Beat Faster”
The performance that “made hearts beat faster” is what the audience saw at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the final point of Utopia’s concert tour with Mahler’s Third. In June, 130 musicians from around the globe performed in Wiener Konzerthaus, Philharmonie Berlin and Funkhaus Berlin. The final performance of the tour was hosted in Athens, Teodor Currentzis’ birthplace. “A grand, musical evocation of the forces and creations of Nature”, as the composer called his work, became a highlight of the Athens Epidaurus Festival at the antique Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
— One could admire sound quality or precision of the orchestra that responded to what conductor demanded as well as the explosive escalations which were thankfully tempered by the acoustics of the open space.
— The highlight of the evening was the extensive concluding Adagio, one of the most impressive pieces of “absolute” music. This orchestral hymn of love and its creative power were delivered with perfectly focused, full-scale and graceful sound of the strings sided by narrative fluency that led the audience to ultimate redemption… and apotheosis!
— Currentzis obsessively focused on the mechanisms within symphony writing, turning the acroama into a relentlessly tense sonic x-ray.
— On the tips of his fingers Currentzis had transmitted some magic energy to listeners’ palms, so the audience didn’t stop applauding loudly for ten minutes in a row, coming to apotheosis with “bravo” and whistles of enthusiasm.