NOSPR / Alsop / „eroica”, „święto Wiosny” I „wypalenie” by Eisendle, Beethoven, Hindemith, Frá (2023/2023), Hljómsveitarstjóri Marin Alsop, NOSPR, Katowice, Poland

The Austrian composer Hannah Eisendle defines Heliosis – a piece commissioned by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra – as “a burning recollection of extreme heat”. The Greek word does indeed mean being burnt with a sunray, which predicts music full of lively energy, a power just as life-giving as – in excess – dangerous and deadly. Flaming with the sound of winds and percussion, beaming with the blinding brilliance of the strings’ timbres. After the performance at last year’s Proms, also conducted by Marin Alsop, a BBC critic described the young Austrian composer’s piece as the highlight of the evening. Not every premiere meets with such a warm response. Although Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, a masterpiece of ballet music, also radiates with lively energy, its premiere show with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky caused one of the greatest scandals in the history of music. Today, this remains but an anecdote, as the work does not cease to inspire fascination. Eroica caused a similar turmoil, although without such a scandalising context. Ludvig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 abruptly broke the majestic evolution of the symphonic cycle, appearing suddenly, together with a new, flaming style which has influenced whole generations. “A daring, wild phantasia, of an extraordinary length and extreme difficulty of performance. There is no dearth of stunning and beautiful fragments, in which the composer’s power and talent can be seen,” wrote the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung critic after the premiere.