As long as there is culture, there is Germany

Regardless of the Germany's electoral disaster, we have the consolation that the Central European country is a musical cradle of more than proven tradition and that keeps its heritage alive. Theatres, concert halls and orchestras that populate the Germanic lands from east to west and from north to south make us think that if culture and civilization prevail in the form of dialogue, as well as the mastery of the classics, not all is lost.

And who better than Beethoven to open fire in the hands of an orchestra like the WDR Symphony, based in Cologne and invited by Ibercamera. The opening Egmont, especially the final bars, confirmed that Monday would be a night of great and good music. The elegant and energetic direction of the Colombian Andrés Orozco-Estrada helped with this, also in a splendid second part governed by the generous sound of a very well-interpreted Fifth Symphony by Tchaikovsky. A main course that complemented another renowned piece and that centered the evening: the Cello Concerto in A minor by Robert Schumann, an exquisite and difficult page that asks a lot of the orchestra, conductor, soloist and listeners. But if you are lucky enough to have Pablo Ferrández, it promises to come to fruition. And so it did.

Glued to his instrument (a Stradivarius Archinto from 1689), the Madrid cellist offered a reading of Schumann's concerto, understanding it as what it is: one of the pages that best defines romanticism. That is, a work in which the inner self unfolds in an effort to situate itself in the world, without renouncing the lyricism of poetry inherent to the composer's musical scores. A reading at the service of the work, but in which the individualism of another self, that of the performer, strove to place itself at the centre of the discourse. And by faith he succeeded, with prodigious virtuosity. From the exposition of the first themes of the initial movement, the sonorous generosity and the timbral purity took over the interpreter's performance. And after the Langsam central –with very intelligent use of vibrato–, Ferrández threw himself into the thrilling journeys through the lowest and highest regions of the tessitura of an instrument that responded like a perfect accomplice.