Dallapiccola's timbres lead us through the darknesses of the human soul, allowing us to hope together with the prisoner, for we hear with him the saving word "fratello" (brother). At the moment of the greatest fulfillment of hope, he is seized by the arms of the Grand Inquisitor and must acknowledge that hope was the worst torture of all. The performance series in Graz, Austria, in March 2017, from which the present recording is taken, was praised in the highest terms by the musical press. Dirk Kaftan has been General Music Director of the Bonn Beethoven Orchestra and the Bonn Opera since the summer of 2017, after having previously servied as Principal Conductor of the Graz Opera and the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra. “Reaching people” and “mustering energy” are important for Dirk Kaftan, and these priorities are reflected in the results of his work.
