Petrenko convinces as a sound organizer

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra have long since left the stage when Kirill Petrenko returns because the audience won't stop clapping. The conductor bows and points behind him to the empty chairs. He wants to say that it is not him but the orchestra that deserves the applause, even though the musicians are already enjoying their after-work beers. Then the friendly little man scurries out again with quick steps. The audience in the Berlin Philharmonie has not often seen the new chief conductor since the end of August last year, because Petrenko is still tied up as General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the start of the season, also performed at the Brandenburg Gate, a New Year's Eve concert with soprano Diana Damrau and Gustav Mahler's 6th Symphony were the only programs Petrenko has conducted in Berlin so far.

In this fourth concert, the new chief conductor shows himself in the first part, with Igor Stravinsky's thoroughly brittle Symphony in three movements and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's sensual and groovy ballet suite Alagoanaas a rather sober sound organizer who often conducts with both arms in parallel, always has his head in the score and gives clear cues. Kirill Petrenko is not a zampano, but a craftsman. His markings are functional, not aesthetic: not one squiggle too many. He does not stage himself, but simply does his job. However, Petrenko can also be freer in his conducting and let things take their course, as is the case in the second part, with the perfectly balanced Symphonic dances by Sergei Rachmaninov. He gives the wind solos enough breath, the homogeneity of the strings is delightful. Everything is perfectly coordinated - the team is the star.
 

How precisely Petrenko works on the balance can be observed in the dress rehearsal beforehand. It is not a simple run-through, but a search and discovery of modeled transitions, clear rhythms and subtle dynamic differences. The new conductor speaks in a friendly but firm voice - and the Berliner Philharmoniker prick up their ears. "Kirill Petrenko comes to the rehearsal better prepared than anyone else I know," says cellist and orchestra board member Knut Weber in the subsequent interview. "He always knows exactly what he wants to correct and is very quick to do so. The tension in the orchestra is currently at a level I've never experienced before." At the press conference, there was talk of a long honeymoon and a spell that will last for a long time to come. "We're just getting to know each other," adds Andrea Zietzschmann, the artistic director from Sankt Georgen in the Black Forest. "He's not overly present in the first season. That's also good for this growing relationship."

A shorter tour in the fall with him at the podium has already been completed, with two more to come this season. Above all, however, the Baden-Baden Easter Festival Kirill Petrenko, who has a strong connection to opera and was already General Music Director in Meiningen and at the Komische Oper Berlin before Munich, will open the season on April 4 with Beethoven's Fidelio. Slovenian drama director Mateja Koležnik will stage an opera for the first time in Baden-Baden, expanding Florestan's perception through dreams, reveals Andrea Zietzschmann. "With our Artist in Residence Marlis Petersen, we also have an excellent singer as Leonore."

Knut Weber is very much looking forward to the Easter Festival and promises a "firework display of content". The fact that all 16 of Beethoven's string quartets and the Great Fugue will be performed by 17 different ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Kurhaus Baden-Baden is ambitious. "Especially in the chamber concerts, we also appreciate the many personal encounters we have with the audience. This direct contact is something very special in Baden-Baden," he says. In addition to guest conductors Herbert Blomstedt, Tugan Sokhiev and Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti, who is standing in for Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko can also be heard in the orchestral concerts: with Beethoven's Missa solemnis, exclusively in Baden-Baden, and Mahler's 6th Symphony, with which Simon Rattle bid farewell to the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Zietzschmann would like to market the Easter Festival even more internationally. She counters the recurring rumors that the Berlin Philharmonic would return to Salzburg with a self-confident smile: "We feel at home in Baden-Baden." And announces that Kirill Petrenko will only conduct opera in Baden-Baden from 2022. Not only Salzburg will be disappointed about this. But Baden-Baden can rejoice.