Musikfest 4: Landscape Studies

The Bayerisches Staatsorchester may enjoy a reputation as one of Europe’s great opera orchestras, but they maintain an equally active life in the concert hall, and they have appeared as guests at Berlin’s Musikfest in previous years. Their appearance this year, however, came with an extra sense of occasion: it was part of a larger tour in celebration of their 500th anniversary; and with Vladimir Jurowski, their new music director, at the helm, they delivered a varied programme that highlighted the full spectrum of the orchestra’s considerable strengths.

Although the concert featured two established twentieth-century classics – Berg’s Violin Concerto and Strauss’s Alpensinfonie – it opened with a twenty-first century work by Victoria Vita Polevá. Ms Polevá’s Third Symphony, which bore the subtitle ‘White Interment’ started life as a…