9. Philharmonisches Konzert - Überwältigend

In the organizer's words:

Overwhelming

Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Stefan Blunier Conductor
Carl-Sönje Montag Bassoon

Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Concerto in F major for bassoon and orchestra
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 7 in E major

After the New Year's Concert with Beethoven's 9th Symphony including the jubilant "Ode to Joy", Stefan Blunier, a regular and welcome guest in Duisburg, returns to the podium of the Philharmoniker a few months later for a no less overwhelming symphony: the 7th Symphony by Anton Bruckner, a powerful cathedral of sound and a moving reaction to the death of Richard Wagner, whom he admired and for whom he was the "blessed, beloved immortal master". This powerful work with its overwhelming aesthetics is preceded by a piece on the program that Carl-Sönje Montag describes as "virtuosity, elegance and joy". He is actually the deputy principal bassoonist of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, but for this concert he switches sides and stands in front of the orchestra as a soloist. The first movement is "inviting and downright life-affirming" with its "virtuoso passages and large intervallic leaps, the final rondo is folksy and humorous", says Montag, while in the slow middle movement "the cantabile bassoonist's soul is allowed to sing out in melodic arcs reminiscent of Hummel's teacher Mozart". In short: for Carl-Sönje Montag, the piece is one of the three most important bassoon concertos in the classical-romantic repertoire, alongside those by Carl Maria von Weber and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - not the worst company.