SWR Symphonieorchester II

Which is greater, the longing for eternal life or the love for a human being? The Greek hero Pollux didn’t think twice: he renounced immortality and followed his brother into the realm of shadows. When Esa-Pekka Salonen takes inspiration from this myth for his twin orchestral movements Gemini, this is only the temporary end point of a development that young Russian-Finnish conductor Dima Slobodeniouk hopes to illuminate on his musical journey. We can imagine we’re strolling through an imaginary exhibition: with Castor and Pollux by the Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau, whose tender death scene finds its antithesis in the heroic lament of the “Eroica” Symphony – here, however, elevated to cosmic dimensions.