ConcertPulse
Mandelring Quartett / Roland Glassl
Laeiszhalle, Kleiner Saal (Hamburg)
Mandelring Quartet
Filters
Mandelring Quartet
Michelangelo String Quartet
This recital opens with Bach's trio sonatas for violin and harpsichord, highlighting the harpsichord's novel equality. Schubert's C-Major Fantasy for violin and piano, written for Josef Slavík, challenged audiences with its length and free form. Sibelius's Nocturne from "Belshazzar's Feast" follows Leschanah's palace dialogue with the stars. Saint-Saëns's first violin sonata, announced with humor, became a hit. Kroll's "Banjo and Fiddle" captures American folk music and gained popularity through Jascha Heifetz.
Guido Sant’Anna »has charisma, stage presence and an astonishing maturity and depth in his playing,« wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung after the young Brazilian violinist had opened the Rheingau Music Festival in 2023 together with the hr-Sinfonieorchester. Be it large concert stages or prestigious competitions – at not even 20 years old, Guido Sant’Anna wins over audiences, the press and judges equally. With Martina Consonni, sponsored by star pianist Sir András Schiff, who celebrated her debut at the Elbphilharmonie in 2024, he presents a programme from Schubert to Ravel, which entertains both with breakneck virtuosity and expansive melody arcs – and even blues. Both Guido Sant’Anna and Martina Consonni study at the prestigious Kronberg Academy. Guido Sant’Anna was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2005. He achieved international recognition when he was the first South American violinist to win the prestigious International Fritz Kreisler Competition in 2022. A historic success had already preceded this triumph in Vienna in 2018 when he was the first Brazilian violinist to be invited to the International Yehudi Menuhin Competition in Geneva and won both the audience prize and the chamber music prize. In October 2022, he filled in for Christian Tetzlaff at the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in São Paulo for which he received rave reviews. Praised for her innate musicality and overwhelming sensitivity, combined with exceptional instrumental technique and brilliant sound, Martina Consonni has established herself as one of the most promising young pianists of her generation. Born in Como in 1997, she achieved two Masters degrees at the Pavia Conservatory and at the HMTM in Hanover. She also received a Masters degree in chamber music at the National Academy »Santa Cecilia« in Rome and an Artist Diploma at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin under Sir András Schiff. She has been selected to participate in several master classes where she encountered musicians of international standing, such as Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Gerstein, Steven Isserlis and Christoph Eschenbach.
When listening to Igor Levit play Beethoven, you feel that you are being taken by the hand, that you are being led in a determined and yet extremely friendly manner on an exploration of a densely built-up terrain. An unexpected attraction captivates at every bend in the road, everything is there in its intimacy, grandeur, in its deep, ethical seriousness. And yet it seems close, accessible, completely present. This also applies when Levit takes on a work that was not actually intended for piano, such as Beethoven’s expansive »Eroica« Symphony: Beethoven is as direct, spontaneous and physical as life itself. But also as existential and uncomfortable as the things that determine our happiness and our worries. Igor Levit achieves that magical balance between the telling details and the meaningfulness of the big picture that characterises the classic Beethoven.
Violinist Angelika Bachmann from Salut Salon and pianist Professor Jacques Ammon invite to the annual »Concert of the Children« in the Grand Hall of Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle. The outstanding young prizewinners of the Hamburg Instrumental Competition will perform. The virtuoso skills of the children and young people, the varied programme and the warm concert atmosphere make the Children’s Concert a uniquely moving experience every year. Hamburg music legend Rolf Zuckowski will once again be there as a special guest, and as everyone knows, he rarely sings alone. And for the grand finale, everyone plays and sings together and throws flowers to the audience. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Francis Poulenc, the true joker of the French artistic association »Groupe des Six«, created a precious treasure of five works for the woodwinds – the sextet, a trio and a sonata each for flute, clarinet and bassoon. With the sparkling Sextuor for piano and winds, a showpiece for the »musical prose« sought by the »Six«, he thrusts the audience right into the pulsating life of his home city of Paris. The three-movement piece was completed in 1932, but thoroughly revised in 1939 for the performance with Poulenc himself at the piano. At the beginning, it sounds like the Grands Boulevards, everything is noisy, running, honking, shouting and whirling, and the woodwinds are immediately allowed to bring their entire arsenal of modern acrobatics into play. The middle movement is more idyllic, before the fast section suddenly seems to be a fairground hustle and bustle. The work concludes with a hymn-like declaration of love to the metropolis on the Seine.
She draws, she writes, she explains and, of course, she plays the piano. Alice Sara Ott is a pianist of our time. Bringing the music of the past, which she loves so much, into the present is an important concern for her. And the audience thanks her for it – with fantastic streaming figures and enthusiastic comments. She is characterised by an elegant virtuosity and an openness that defies the rigid conventions of the classical music business: »Music really is the only place where we can meet. No matter what religion, what cultural background you have, what political party you vote for.« The Munich-born pianist with Japanese roots believes that any form of marginalisation is contrary to the spirit of music, and in this way creates new connections in her concerts – between people, but also between the works. Thus Beethoven’s famous »Moonlight Sonata« meets John Field, the almost forgotten »inventor« of the nocturne.
Usually, the harp is in the middle of the orchestra and caters for dreamy tonal colours – Tjasha Gafner takes it from there into the limelight and shines as a soloist. The Swiss not only won First Prize in her category at the ARD Music Competition, but also the even more sought-after audience prize. She honours two great harp virtuosos in Henriette Renié and Marcel Tournier, who composed themselves. With two of her own arrangements of Bach and Haydn, she also shows her passion to expand the repertoire for her instrument. Harpist Tjasha Gafner, born in Switzerland in 1999, completed her studies at the Juilliard School in New York under Nancy Allen, after she had completed her Masters as a soloist under Letizia Belmondo at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne. Since 2022, she has been studying education at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne under Sandrine Chatron. She is the prize winner of several Swiss and international competitions. Since the age of 10, she has performed in Germany, France, Hong Kong and many other countries and has been on the stage as a soloist with the chamber orchestra of the Bayerische Philharmonie, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and the London Mozart Players.
Simply Quartet
Jens Peter Maintz violoncello
They have only just celebrated their 25th anniversary – and are still going, stronger than ever. The Bennewitz Quartet, made up of four gentlemen from the Czech Republic, has established a superb reputation in the quarter of a century it has been performing. Its members are regarded as the cultural ambassadors of their homeland, revered for their warm, homogeneous sound. Now they have invited Veronika Hagen, violist in the legendary Hagen Quartet, to expand their line-up into a quintet. Their concert promises a programme full of contrasts, fluctuating between idylls of nature, the innate lifeforce, and moments of farewell. Antonín Dvořák spent his first summer in the USA not amid the hustle and bustle of New York City, where he ran the conservatory, but surrounded by the tranquillity of Iowa. A Czech community had formed in the small town of Spitville and they invited the composer to stay with them. He must have heard not only the sounds of the »New World«, but also plenty of familiar Bohemian music. At its premiere the following winter, his quintet even transported New Yorkers to this rural summer idyll, and proved an instant success. »Our will for culture was just as great as our will to exist!« wrote the Polish-Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann, recounting his time in the Theresienstadt ghetto. His third string quartet was composed there: gripping music full of a desire to survive. Johannes Brahms, by contrast, wrote his string quintet as a farewell to composing and perhaps even to life itself. Though he would go on to compose other works, his quintet is full of gentle melancholy, a look back over Brahms’ legacy.
Frederic Chopin’s brilliant music has always captivated audiences and at the same time reveals his favourite instrument: the piano. Today, the great piano composer is a benchmark for every pianist and one of the most famous and successful personalities in music history. The young pianist Burak Çebi plays a diverse Chopin repertoire that includes his waltzes, nocturnes and mazurkas.
»If there are any living piano gods at all, this man is definitely one of them.« Anyone who has ever heard a piano recital by Grigory Sokolov can only agree with RONDO magazine. Without show and glamour, solely through the power of his art, the exceptional pianist succeeds in turning each of his concerts into an extraordinary experience. You want to be there when he casts his spell with a precise touch, pointed rhythm and absolutely convincing interpretation. As a person, Sokolov is completely at the service of the composition. When he plays, everything suddenly becomes clear: this is how it has to sound. This is music in its purest form! No matter which programme he chooses – always announced six months in advance.
Belcea Quartet
Casals Quartet
The NOVO Quartet from Denmark currently commutes between Vienna and Copenhagen to get the final touch to its training in its studies with string quartet greats. The musicians have already scooped up many prizes. As the final concert of this season’s Teatime Classics, they combine a classic with a rare piece: one of the famous »Rasumovsky« quartets by Beethoven encounters a quartet by Grazyna Bacewicz, whose fascinating music borrows from Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Bartók – highly recommended listening! The NOVO Quartet, formed in Copenhagen in 2018, is one of the most promising young ensembles in Denmark. The quartet, which currently resides in Vienna and Copenhagen, consist of violinists Kaya Kato Møller and Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard, violist Daniel Sledzinski and cellist Signe Ebstrup Bitsch. The quartet was recently awarded the First Prize and four special prizes at the 77th Geneva International Music Competition, amongst others. The NOVO Quartet is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna as part of the ECMAster programme under Professor Johannes Meissl. The quartet receives further musical inspirations from Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartett), Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartett), Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet), Asbjørn Nørgård (Danish String Quartet) and Fredrik Sjölin (Danish String Quartet). The NOVO Quartet gives concerts throughout Denmark and has also performed in countries such as China, the USA, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Greenland.
Classical music meets the art of improvisation: in his solo piano programme »Bachomania«, internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Leon Gurvitch brings the music of Johann Sebastian Bach to life in a completely new and exciting way. To mark the 340th anniversary of the great master’s birth, Gurvitch not only celebrates his timeless works, but also invites the audience to experience Bach through the lens of modern interpretation. With respect and imagination, he adapts compositions that were not originally intended for piano – including excerpts from the famous cello suites and chorales such as »Jesus bleibet meine Freude«. These works are revitalised by Gurvitch’s own handwriting and enhanced by spontaneous improvisations that make each concert unique.
Daniil Trifonov’s magic is hard to resist: the fact that his pianistic resources are almost limitless is unmistakable. He also surprises his audience time and again with his expressiveness and ability to reinterpret music. Trifonov is therefore definitely one of the most exciting pianists of our time. For his recital in May 2025, the pianist will bring a Romantic programme to the Laeiszhalle in which he will showcase all facets of his ability. In addition to piano sonatas by Samuel Barber and his compatriot Piotr I. Tchaikovsky, he will also focus on the genre of dance: although Chopin’s waltzes are not really danceable, the time signature and character of the music unmistakably point to this. Tchaikovsky’s ballet music for Sleeping Beauty, on the other hand, was written especially for dance – ballerinas, dancers and stage sets pass before your mind’s eye as you listen.
The program will be announced at a later date.
While in Lichtental, a suburb of Baden-Baden, Brahms got the inspiration for the first movement of his Horn Trio during a morning walk. He later showed a friend where the nature sounds sparked this inspiration. Brahms learned to play the horn as a child, and it features prominently in his music, particularly his symphonies, and his mother loved his horn playing. The Horn Trio's Adagio movement, written shortly after his mother's death, is thought to reflect this event. Brahms composed Serenades Op. 11 and 16 while working as a piano teacher in Detmold, during which he also studied Haydn and Mozart. He had initially intended to write a lighter piece, but his evolving symphonic ideas led to richer instrumentation and broader development, as detailed by Max Kalbeck.