"The Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg's long delayed and wildly over-budget concert hall, officially opened in January last year ... The major premiere of the celebrations followed two days later, when Kent Nagano and the Hamburg Philharmonic introduced Jörg Widmann's evening-long oratorio, Arche ... The title, "Ark", comes from the striking appearance of the new hall itself, which Widmann saw as an "ark of culture", overlooking the water in Hamburg. The music is designed as an exploration of the changing relationship between man and God ... ranging chronologically from the Old Testament up to Nietzsche and Hans Andersen. The scheme of five large-scale movements seems to begin as a biblical pageant before transforming itself into a requiem mass: the first three parts, introduced by child narrators, deal with the creation of the world, the flood and the beginnings of love and evil, after which come a Dies Irae and a Dona Nobis Pacem".