Giving new proof of her artistic versatility, the conductor Susanna Mälkki combines Wagner and R. Strauss with a piece by the British composer Jonathan Harvey, premiered in 2010. In the words of the composer, who died in 2012, the choir that interprets Messages can be understood and heard as if they were a group of angels. Harvey was inspired by the nine hierarchies of angels located in the seven heavens -around which the music evolves. The text consists exclusively of the names of Jewish and Persian angels, highlighting the inventiveness of this composer who The Guardian described as “a rare spirit, ever in search of the new and numinous”.

Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir
Susanna Mälkki Conductor

Jonathan Harvey
Messages

Richard Wagner
Parsifal: Prelude to Act III and Good Friday Music

Richard Strauss
Death and Transfiguration, op. 24

Gulbenkian Choir Sponsor