Donau

Florian Christl’s new album, Donau is a musical journey from the source to the mouth of the Danube river, which unites ten countries. This album features twelve atmospheric compositions inspired by the graceful beauty of nature and the diverse musical traditions of the majestic cities and regions along the Danube. Christl explores places like Vienna, Budapest, and the Danube Delta, incorporating local musical elements into his compositions. He is accompanied by the traditional Bavarian folk music ensemble Seeger Saitenmusik, accordionist Vladislav Cojocaru, violinist Kristina Šuklar, cellists Raphaela Gromes and Alik Lysiùk, former members of the Odessa Opera Orchestra, and his regular ensemble.

From a young age, Florian Christl was fascinated by how the waters of the Vils river, flowing through his hometown, Amberg in Germany, could find their way to the distant sea. It is the Danube that connects this small river with the Black Sea far to the east. Covering 2,857 kilometers, from its source in the Black Forest to its mouth near the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, the Danube crosses through half of Europe, and cultural hubs such as Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and the Greater Bucharest area. As a vital route for travel, the Danube has facilitated the exchange and development of Europe’s shared cultural heritage, particularly evident in music.

The outbreak of the war in Ukraine deeply resonated with Florian Christl, highlighting the sense of interconnectedness. Inspired by Romantic program music, especially Smetana’s “The Moldau,” Christl conceived the idea of musically interpreting the Danube on a concept album to promote peace in Europe.

“The thought of how the Danube connects my hometown directly with Ukraine stuck with me. The river symbolizes a turbulent, tragic history of wars and migration in Europe, but also a continuous exchange that has shaped European culture, as seen in European music,” explains Florian Christl.

With this idea, Christl embarked on extensive research on the Danube and the cities, regions, and diverse natural areas it connects. A journey along the river took him to the Danube Delta, where the river marks the border between peaceful Romania and war-torn Ukraine. Christl describes the experience:

“It was surreal and sad: the contrast between the incredibly beautiful nature and the knowledge of the horrors of war just a few kilometers away.”

The album’s creation spanned more than two years. After the initial recordings, Florian Christl suffered a heart attack in September 2023, which took him out of commission for several weeks and continues to affect him today. This experience led him to reconsider what is truly important in life:

“In everyday life, we often lose sight of what really matters: the moments with the people who are truly important to us, no matter how brief and incidental they may seem. We expend so much energy pursuing seemingly lasting material influence, wealth, or land. We should spend much more time enjoying this journey together.”

Florian Christl begins his musical journey along the Danube with the short string-ensemble piece Prelude. In the style of an overture, Prelude contains a motif that reappears in “Budapest.” Throughout the album, recurring motifs and phrases symbolize the flow of the river. With the dreamy solo-piano miniature “Origin,” the river begins its journey to the sea. Christl builds up dynamics with a long ostinato, reflecting the winding, unstraightened river near its source, where it is fed by various streams and smaller rivers. Some of these rivers originate in the Bavarian Alps. In “Bavaria,” Christl draws on a motif from traditional local folk music, accompanied by the Seeger Saitenmusik ensemble with dulcimer, guitar, and double bass, maintaining the local folk music tradition. “Mozart Variation,” a rendition of Mozart’s “Haffner” Serenade featuring cellist Raphaela Gromes, is dedicated to the city of Vienna. So is the same-named composition “Vienna,” which captures the city’s splendor, featuring Kristina Šuklar, the first violinist of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Odessa Six, a string ensemble comprising former members of the Odessa Opera and Symphony Orchestras. The musicians fled during the war and some of them now regularly tour with Hans Zimmer as part of his orchestra. From Vienna, through Bratislava to Budapest, Florian Christl pays homage to Franz Liszt with a piece meandering around its harmonic center like a river. “Liszt Variation” is a playful adaptation of the song “Im Rhein, im schönen Strome,” paying tribute to the composer and pianist who called Budapest home for a long time and influenced its musical culture. With “Budapest,” Christl musically interprets the broad, tamed flow of the Danube in a melancholic piece, accompanied by his string sextet. While “Save” revisits the Danube’s tributaries and revives the theme of the lively Alpine rivers from “Bavaria” in a gentle string arrangement, the dynamic “Strom,” featuring Ukrainian cellist Alik Lysiùk, is inspired by the wild nature and the untamed power of the elements in the landscape between Hungary and Serbia at the entrance to Wallachia. The vast plains of this region, called Muntenia in Romania, are portrayed by Florian Christl in a calm solo-piano piece of the same name. “Bulgaria” takes cues from the melodies of the Balkans, already hinting at Middle Eastern influences. Together with a string quartet and Moldovan accordionist Vladislav Cojocaru, Christl wraps these influences in a minimalist structure reminiscent of Philip Glass, illustrating the blending of different cultures. In “Delta,” the Danube’s journey finally ends at the Black Sea near Odessa in a six-minute melodic composition, whose undulating movement suggests a departure rather than an end. Ultimately, the water’s journey in the circle of life does not end in the sea.