Zemlinsky & Bartók with the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien

On June 14, Susanna Mälkki conducts the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien and mezzo-soprano Petra Lang at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Ms. Lang will sing Zemlinsky’s Sechs Gesänge nach Texten von Maurice Maeterlinck, an evocative song cycle that was inspired by Mahler and Strauss, as well as Debussy and Ravel. The poet of the song cycle, Maurice Maeterlinck, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1911 for the texts of the songs, called the Quinze chansons.

Susanna conducts Zemlinsky’s Sinfonietta Op. 23, which was admired by Schönberg and Berg. Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra rounds out the program, one of his most popular works, that he called a concerto rather than a symphony because of the way each section of instruments is treated in a soloistic and virtuosic way.