Melancholy, clarinet and fateful knocks

German star clarinetist and composer David Orlowsky comes to Norrlandsoperan to perform his self-written Shadow Dancer , a beautiful, expressive work with a lot of minor tone. Orlowsky has described his way of playing as an extension of his own voice. An attitude that is clearly repeated in tonight’s solo concert, rich as it is in undulating, beautiful, singable parts. As an appetizer, Orlowsky offers Richard Strauss’s Mozart pastiche, the elegant Serenade in E flat major. A piece as cloud-light as it is in form, written by the German opera master as early as 1881.

After the intermission, the drama continues, but this time with the orchestra in the spotlight. Spanish conductor Jaume Santonja leads: first out is B Tommy Andersson’s “Death in Venice”, a musical commentary on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which was commissioned by the Norrland Opera back in 2014. The title alludes to Wagner’s death, which occurred in Venice and was so surprising that one can speak of a twist of fate. “Then fate knocks on the door”, as Beethoven himself described the opening bars of his famous symphony. And so the evening ends, with three short and one long “knocking”, in perhaps the world’s most famous symphony. Beethoven’s Fiveth.