Ec­sta­sy

The mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital elicits amazing sounds from an instrument that is, to all intents and purposes, somewhat unprepossessing. He brings to Nuremberg a solo concerto composed for him in 2006 by fellow Israeli Avner Dorman. In his orchestral pieces the enigmatic mystic Scriabin was striving to achieve a great work of synaesthetic mystery, which would drive human beings to ecstasies. He probably came closest to this ideal in his rousing “Poème de l'extase”. Almost 25 years after emigrating, Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances” is an ode to Russia, an energetic yet melancholic work that was to be Rachmaninoff's last.