The concert by The Knights and Martynas Levickis on 14 April at the Konzerthaus in Berlin ranks among the most exceptional musical experiences I have had: an evening that was completely "right" from beginning to end – coherent, breathing and self-evident in its grandeur.
What appeared on paper to be a versatile programme unfolded in the hall as one continuous movement in which everything developed organically. Under the direction of Eric Jacobsen, styles, colours and tempi flowed into one another to create a natural stream.
From the very first bars, the ensemble's exceptional coherence was striking, and the self-evidence with which it moved through disparate musical worlds. The pleasure of playing was a constant undercurrent that gave the evening its energy.
Refined opening and a world in motion
The opening with Entr'acte by Caroline Shaw (°1982) immediately established a sound world in which movement and stillness continually flowed into one another. What was striking was the subtlety with which detail and line coincided: the string orchestra unfolded with a natural breath, in which rich textures, pizzicato and lyrical lines came together into one organic whole that continuously developed without losing its direction.
The closing moment, in which the cellist turned away from the ensemble and directed the final notes directly to the audience, gave the stillness a particular intensity. The conductor's subsequent brief address, in which he spoke of showing "another America", took on an almost symbolic weight in that light, as a reflection on a programme in which different musical worlds were not positioned against each other, but related to one another in a self-evident dialogue.
Energy, freedom and a new way of thinking about sound
With Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin (1898-1937) in Levickis' arrangement, the perspective shifted to a sound world of energy, rhythm and direct, almost physical expression, in which the work unfolded in a new light without losing any of its iconic character.
What Levickis demonstrated here confirmed him undeniably as an exceptional top talent: a musician who not only masters his instrument, but completely reconceives it as an expressive medium. The accordion was not an alternative to the piano here, but a self-evident and even revelatory vehicle for the work – richer in colour, more direct in impact and remarkably versatile in character, which brought out the different moods of the score with a rare clarity.
The Knights responded to all this with the same intensity of listening and reaction, creating a rare form of ensemble playing in which orchestra and soloist manifested themselves as one body, one breath and one shared musical intention.
The first encore, introduced by Levickis, brought a refined and playful arrangement of the third movement from Philip Glass' (°1937) second piano concerto "Tirol", in which once again that self-evident musicality and organic coherence came to the fore.
Transparency as poetic space
Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) became a moment of pure emotion and stillness. The music grew into a broadly sweeping landscape of long, breathing string lines and finely coloured woodwinds, unfolding step by step into a space of light, movement and inner clarity. With eyes closed, it was effortless to imagine listening to a fully-fledged symphonic orchestra: so rich was the sound, so layered the texture and so convincing the resonance of each individual voice within the whole.
The Knights achieved here a rare form of collective unity in which transparency and fullness not only existed side by side, but converged into one breathing sound world of self-evident beauty and inner logic – a performance that settles into memory with great ease, and of which one can easily imagine that Copland himself would have listened with a broad smile.
Intimate narrative and resonance of tradition
Martynas Levickis' (°1990) own work based on Lithuanian folk songs formed the culmination of the evening, a musical stream that unfolded with a seemingly inexhaustible melodic richness that continuously propelled the listener forward: each phrase flowed from the previous one, creating a dramatic arc that never flagged and kept you literally on the edge of your seat.
The melancholic undertone, akin to Philip Glass' repetitive idiom, took on its own form through the organic weaving of Lithuanian folk influences, creating a rich and layered sound universe.
Moments in which wind players allowed only air to flow through their instruments gave the music an almost immaterial dimension, while the accordion unfolded from whisper to full resonance. The Knights followed this with an exceptional unity of intention, so that orchestra and soloist merged into one body and one soul.
Two more encores followed. Levickis first stepped forward alone and in a tango-like evocation allowed time to pause for a moment, a moment of restrained intensity. The Knights then presented a warm and deeply felt arrangement of the folk song I'll Fly Away, in which the vocal colours within the ensemble – subtle and unforced – added an extra layer of expression and allowed the evening to unfold naturally.
An evening that was completely "finished"
What made this evening with The Knights and Martynas Levickis so exceptional was the naturalness with which everything converged into one continuous musical experience, a living totality in which every detail found its place. Under the direction of Eric Jacobsen, a musical breath unfurled in which everything flowed together into an experience of rare intensity.
Denn es muss von Herzen gehen,
Was auf Herzen wirken soll.
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust II)
Here sounded music that rose from the heart and found its way directly to the heart of the listener – an experience that settles as something exceptional: complete, self-evident and in every fiber of the experience unmistakably finished.