HUMMEL I CZYŻ I TARTINI I MENDELSSOHN

We would like to draw your attention to two components of the concert: the soloist's virtuosity and Mendelssohn's "Scottish" symphony. Our artistic director, who is also a trumpeter himself, is undoubtedly looking forward to the concert's first part. Still, we are such enthusiasts of Mendelssohn that we need to pay some attention to him too. Nevertheless – the evening promises to be great, so we will all meet at the Philharmonic in Szczecin for sure.


Since his victory in the ARD competition in 1968, the German trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich has appeared on all the most important stages in the world. Two events well reflect the range of his possibilities: in 1982, during the Berliner Festwoche, he played a composition by Luciano Berio Sequenza X, and in 1994, a concert by Joseph Haydn on the historic keyboard trumpet at the Wiener Musikvereinssaal.

For Reinhold Friedrich, new and old music create unity. He played with the Capriccio Basel, Orchester des Champs-Élysées and the Academy of Vienna on historical instruments. He took part in world premieres of works by Wolfgang Rihm, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Carola Bauckholt, Hans Werner Henze. An essential element of his rich repertoire is solo concerts, such as "Eirene" by Herbert Willie (Wergo) and "Nobody knows de trouble I see" by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (recording of the album awarded with the ECHO-Klassik).

So much for the great soloist and a word about Mendelssohn. The story begins on July 30th, 1829, when Mendelssohn visits Holyrood Castle on his journey through Scotland and, impressed by the charm of the romantic ruins and their historical significance, confides: Here and now I have found the source of my Scottish symphony. It took him some time to write it, as it was only thirteen years later that he finally dedicated the newly completed work to the British Queen Victoria. Since then, the dispute over how Scottish the "Scottish" symphony is keeps gaining momentum.

The composer himself wrote many times that he was against giving his works titles or any other written program because music itself is much more precise than the words. In his work, he did not intend to convey Scottish identity, landscape or folklore, but his feelings from his travels in this country. On the other hand, however, he often used the term "Scottish" for his work; similarly to "Italian", he referred to another symphony that he had created simultaneously. Some musicologists, also today, look for "Scottish" musical idioms in the piece. In contrast, others claim that this inspiration served only to start the work, not the entire creation.

You have to admit that the matter is complicated. Mendelssohn himself did not hide his irritation with the inclusion of the terms "Scottish" and "Italian" in the concert programs, especially when he discovered that there were mistakes in some places and that symphonies were called... the opposite. But, ultimately, as the authors of the concert descriptions, we would like to admit that he is right: music is much more precise than words!