Joseph Haydn’s The Creation - a musical masterpiece that was celebrated from the very beginning. For Simon Rattle there is no question that Haydn’s Creation contains everything. The whole world. It looks both towards the past and far into the future of everything music can be. It is balance and revolution at the same time – a true work of the Enlightenment. "Magnificent choruses, graceful melodies, the finest polyphony, all firmly anchored in an optimistic view of humanity – anyone who doesn't automatically feel better after hearing it really needs help," says Simon Rattle with a wink.
"The Creation is healthy in a very honest way," he adds. But health also includes a good dose of humour, and Haydn provides it, even in a setting as sacred as the Creation story. At the same time, a work radiating light also casts a few shadows on our own present. What has remained of the spirit of the Enlightenment? And what have we done with "this world, so great, so wonderful"?
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