Words to describe Live at Berghain: pummeling, overwhelming, emotional. And yet also: tender, restrained, thoughtful. The cover image suggests desolation and loss, the track titles religion, war, heroism. How can a set be all these things at once? The one-hour concert from Gellért Szabó’s Ideal Orchestra wrings its audience out, takes them to heights and depths, and provokes – at least in the initial, captured performance – an enthusiastic response.
Leipzig composer Gellért Szabó has been amassing a large discography in a short period of time; this is the artist’s 13th release in under four years, counting solo sets, collaborations and group efforts. Along with the Ideal Orchestra, he has released three other albums: MYTHOPOEIA and MONUMENT I & II. Even with so much to draw from, the composer wrote all-new pieces for the live show, the sign of an active and prolific mind.
The 19-strong orchestra is capable of great bombast and surprising subtlety. The orchestra starts “In Medias Res” (“In the Middle of Things”), offering a full-fledged overture, with active drums, brass, choral flavors and a sense of largesse. But then a surprising retraction in the final minute, allowing some of the instruments to roam around the stage like untethered children, expressing their innermost feelings. “Confrontation” alternates between tiptoeing and surging forward, akin to an actual battle, chased by the triumphant brass of “Resolution (looking up, vulcano).” To the live and home listeners, there is no break between tracks, as they exist in the larger suite. Even the softer “Psalm” proceeds from the mouth of “Resolution,” the word meaning “sacred song or hymn,” not necessarily referring to the original collection. The track is characterized by glissandos that may symbolize prayers borne aloft on warrior wings. And … then … it … all … slows … down.
Having won the listener’s attention, the conductor is now free to experiment, which he does with wild abandon, dabbling in dissonance before the cacophony kicks in. The center of “Edelstahl” is rife with brass and percussion, which return triumphant at the conclusion. One can imagine a battle flag, a chalice held high. Solo trumpet crosses the bridge to “Landscape After The Battle,” contributing a more sombre note, accompanied by soft choir and mournful strings. A single drumbeat, then two, then more, suggest that the battle isn’t nearly over.
The center of the album contains a surprising use of silence and near-silence, the choir stepping forth to fill the void. The first of two “Crescendo”s completes the first half of the set, after which the composer switches from dissonance to abstraction. “Truth Reveals Itself” is like a wandering minstrel, stumbling into “What Is Left (Fog)”, trying to find his way. Glossolalia contribute to the confusion, then whispering and whistling, the disoriented traveler trying to calm his nerves as mysterious sounds whip through the woods. Eventually, in “Emerging,” the tide begins to turn. The concluding triptych – “Ascending,” “Journey Back To The Familiar Lands” and “Crescendo (Triumph Of A Hero)” suggests Odysseus and other grand tales of warriors returning home after epic battles or quests, although the excitement is tempered by another look at that cover image. The audience, not seeing such an image, erupts in sustained applause.
While tonally distinct from Wagner, Szabó captures the scale and emotional range of the classic composer’s works. Simultaneously sober and uplifting, tragic and triumphant, Live at Berghain is tremendously affective, appealing to the spirit and the yearning within. (Richard Allen)