ConcertPulse
Guest performance
Philharmonie Berlin, Chamber Music Hall (Berlin)
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This concert marks the end of the 10th edition of the International Mendelssohn Festival and presents a »colourful series« of musical treasures. It begins with Schubert’s monumental Octet for mixed winds and strings, which, in his own words, is already »on the way to becoming a great symphony«. The Duetto for cello and double bass by Giaochino Rossini is less well known. The three-movement piece in D major is a true duo: both voices are almost equal and talk to each other. Everyone first associates Puccini with opera; his song »Storiella d’amore« is performed on stage as an arrangement for clarinet and string quintet. Also included: George Gershwin’s world-famous »Rhapsody in Blue« for clarinet, string quartet and double bass, which promises a colourful array of rhythms and harmonies from jazz and blues. Finally, a crowning finale that unites all the evening’s musicians: a world premiere by Fredrik Schwenk, »Bunte Reihe, einmal wohltemperiert«, a fantasy about the number 24 for 12 instruments.
Mikhail Glinka’s »Divertimento brillante« dates from a time when Glinka was living in Italy and saw the world premiere of Bellini’s bel canto opera »La Sonnambula« at La Scala in Milan. The melodic material comes from this opera, Glinka’s Divertimento consists of just one long movement with a brilliant finale, from which the work undoubtedly takes its name. The first half of the concert focuses on Finland’s musical heritage, including »Don Juanquijoten Virtuoosinen Pöytämusiikki« (The Virtuoso Table Music of Don Quixote) by Aulis Sallinen, which was written to celebrate the 70th birthday of cellist Arto Noras and premiered by Noras in Helsinki in 2012. Noras himself also performs this work here in Hamburg. In Janáček’s »Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs«, the stage belongs entirely to the strings of the Czech Talich Quartet, while Dohnányi’s Sextet, Op. 73 forms the finale, a work composed entirely in the spirit of late Romanticism, yet also infected by the zeitgeist: with a kind of ragtime for clarinet and piano in the finale.
It’s about joy and happiness, about love and longing, and also sometimes about difficult and sad things. In short, it is about everything that comes directly »from life«. Bedřich Smetana’s String Quartet No. 1 forms the overarching theme of this multi-layered concert evening. Two composers from Hamburg are represented in this programme: Johannes Brahms has the last word with his String Sextet in B-flat major, while his much lesser-known compatriot Ferdinand David appears with his Sonata for violin solo op. 43. The Saxon city of Leipzig became the centre of life for the composer and violinist David, who taught Joseph Joachim, the violin legend who also inspired Brahms, at the Leipzig Conservatory.