The pandemic ruined a couple of years ago one of the most desired projects in Barcelona that now has the opportunity to be recovered: the concert at the Sagrada Família of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Ferrari of the symphony orchestras, which every 1 of May chooses an emblematic place on the planet to commemorate an anniversary of its foundation on Labor Day. And on this occasion with the participation of the Orfeó Català, who will interpret Mozart's Coronation Mass both in the Gaudí basilica and in the Berliner Philharmonie and in the National Auditorium in Madrid.
"Don't ask me why the Berlin Philharmonic took so long to choose Gaudí's Sagrada Família, it's very strange, but it will be a wonderful experience. And I understand that you think of Barcelona because there are people here to work with," assured a exultant Simon Halsey, the former director of the Orfeó who is at the Palau de la Música preparing the choirs for these three programs that he will offer with the Berlin orchestra: on the 27th and 28th in Berlin, on the 1st in Barcelona and on the 3rd in Madrid.
The former director of the Orfeó Català, now the institution's main guest and ambassador to the world, continues to be a point of reference at the Berlin Philharmonic, where he has spent decades working, first with Claudio Abbado, then with Simon Rattle and now with Kirill Petrenko. The magician of the choral direction is, in turn, the guarantee that the German formation has when it comes to trusting amateur choirs, or as they are called in the Anglo-Saxon world, professional volunteer choirs. "Because we look for professional standards in people who sing for love", points out the English director. "And as Pablo Larraz rightly says, we have to ensure that they never forget us," he adds, referring to his replacement at the head of the Orfeó Català.
This is the second time that this choir has performed with the Berlin ensemble -the first was in 2013, under the direction of Rattle at the Palau de la Música-, although there was a participation of the Cor de Noies with musicians from the orchestra in the capital itself german. Yes, it is the first time that they will be placed under the orders of Petrenko, whose preferences, according to Halsey, will remain a mystery until the end.
"In the 42 years of relationship with this orchestra, I have only had prior instructions on two occasions. So we will rehearse with the Orfeó all possible ways of interpreting this Mass by Mozart, from the slowest to the fastest, so that when Petrenko raise the baton so you don't catch them by surprise and they can follow you", explains the director.
In the concerts at the Sagrada Família and the National Auditorium, the Orfeó will also perform Mozart's Ave verum. And a piece that wants to be a political manifesto against the war in Ukraine, a prayer by Valentin Silverstrov (1937) entitled Gebet für die Ukraine. As regards the Coronation Mass, Mozart composed it in Salzburg to celebrate Easter in 1779. A piece of great beauty that the Orfeó Català knows inside out, as he has often performed it, as Larraz recalls. In fact, without going any further, they will perform it this same Sunday, April 16, at the Palau together with the Simfònica del Vallès within their choral cycle and directed by Halsey. Which means that "we are going to interpret it from memory and looking into the eyes of the public".
The Sagrada Família nave is the most beautiful of the auditoriums but not the best in terms of its acoustics, although, as Llorenç Caballero, the director of Ibermúsica and representative of the Berlin Philharmonic in Spain, recalls, this concert is designed to be broadcast, so the microphones will be placed very close to the instruments to avoid the great reverberation of the ship. "Surely those who will hear it the worst will be the attendees," he says. Tickets for this incomparable event have been raffled for sale.
In turn, the Berlin Philharmonic arrives on the 2nd with Petrenko in concert, without choirs, a date from Palau 100 has sold out.
