Every year, the Beethovenfest in Bonn and Deutsche Welle invites an outstanding young orchestra from a different part of the world to the festival's Orchestra Campus. In the past, there have been orchestras from Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, China, Poland, South Africa, Egypt and Russia. This year, Vietnam was chosen - a selection anticipating the German-Vietnamese Year of Culture that the two governments will celebrate in 2010 to mark 35 years of diplomatic relations.

A Campus concert always includes a symphony by Beethoven, a work from the musicians' homeland and the first performance of a work by a young composer from the selected country, commissioned by Deutsche Welle.

The concert opened with the Coriolan Overture, which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote in 1807 for the tragedy "Coriolan" by the Austrian dramatist Heinrich Joseph von Collin. The play has long since been forgotten, but the overture is part of the standard concert repertoire.

Musical impressions from Vietnam

Do Hong Quan, an established composer who is currently chairman of the Vietnamese Composers' Association, wrote the "Rhapsody of Vietnam," a luxuriant tone picture of landscapes, dances and festivities in four movements. It was given its first performance in 1985 in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

The 36-year-old Tran Manh Hung is among the most successful composers of his generation. As a commission for Deutsche Welle, he wrote the work "Le Chi Vien" for violin and orchestra, a "poem symphony."

The work tells the tragic story of the national hero Nguyen Trai, who, though innocent, was executed for regicide in 1442 together with his family. Twenty years later, Nguyen was rehabilitated - but not his wife, Nguyen Thi Lo. Violinist Bui Cong Duy drew a picture of the beautiful Thi Lo with a tender, lyrical tone - perhaps a belated musical homage after nearly 600 years.

Program:

Ludwig van Beethoven

Overture to Heinrich Joseph von Collin´s “Coriolanus” tragedy in C minor op. 62 (“Coriolanus Overture”)

Do Hong Quan

Viet Nam. Rhapsody for grand orchestra

Allegro Maestoso

Allegro marcato molto energico

Andante

Vivace

Tran Manh Hung

Le Chin Vien. Poem symphony for violin and orchestra (Premiere, commissioned by Deutsche Welle)

Performed by:

Graduate orchestra of the Vietnam National Academy of Music Hanoi

Bui Cong Duy (violin)

Claire Levacher (conductor)

Recorded by Deutsche Welle in Beethovenhalle Bonn on September 27, 2009.

Carla Gehrmann-Zellen/kjb