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The Liszt Academy of Music (Concert Hall), © Photo: Marjai Judit style= The Liszt Academy of Music (Concert Hall), © Photo: Marjai Judit

Barber / Glass / Schubert / Beethoven

Budapest, Franz Liszt Academy of Music — Main hall

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About the Event

This concert conducted by András Keller will feature sounds of melancholy and others that encourage reflection and profound introspection. The opening piece for the concert will be Samuel Barber’s deservedly popular Adagio for Strings, providing us with an opportunity for emotion and stirring reflection. In keeping with the contemporary composer’s inimitable style, Philip Glass’s 2010 Double Concerto will present the listener with some moments of contemplation, though this performance of the 30‐minute violin and cello‐centred composition is also bound to evoke sentiments of exultant joy as the violin soloist, the marvellous Gidon Kremer, works closely alongside the superb Lithuanian cellist Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė. We will then hear a second performance from Kremer as we enjoy the noble verve of Schubert’s Polonaise in B‐flat major. Beethoven admitted that he composed the fifth movement of his late String Quartet No. 13 in B‐flat major with tears in his eyes. This is entirely credible given that the moving cavatina, which is also highly effective as an orchestral piece, is the epitome of pained beauty. The composition finds an ideal partner in the second half of the concert with a performance of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.

Program

  • Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
  • Thomas Larcher – Double Concerto
  • Franz Schubert – Polonaise in B‐flat major, D. 580
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet No. 13 in B‐flat major, Op. 130 – Cavatina
  • Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 8 in B major (‘Unfinished’), D. 759
Program is subject to change

Artists

Violin: András Keller
Orchestra, Ensemble: Concerto Budapest
Violin, Violoncello da Spalla: Gidon Kremer

Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German origin. He began to play the violin at the age of four, receiving tuition from his father and his grandfather, who were both professional violinists. He went on to study at the Riga School of Music and with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. He won prizes at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1967 (Second Prize), the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1969 (First Prize) and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1970 (First Prize).

Kremer's first concert in the West was in Germany in 1975, followed by appearances at the Salzburg Festival in 1976 and in New York in 1977. In 1981, Kremer founded a chamber music festival in Lockenhaus, Austria, with a focus on new and unconventional programming; since 1992 the festival has been known as 'Kremerata Musica' and in 1996 Kremer founded the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, composed of young players from the Baltic region. He was also among the artistic directors of the festival 'Art Projekt 92' in Munich and is director of the Musiksommer Gstaad festival in Switzerland.

Kremer is broadly admired for his wide‐ranging repertoire, extending from Vivaldi and Bach to contemporary composers. He has championed the work of composers such as Ástor Piazzolla, George Enescu, Philip Glass, Alfred Schnittke, Lera Auerbach, Arvo Pärt, and John Adams. His partners in performance include Valery Afanassiev, Martha Argerich, Oleg Maisenberg and Vadim Sakharov. He has a large discography on the Deutsche Grammophon label, for which he has recorded since 1978, and he has also recorded for Philips and Decca. He plays a Guarneri del Gesù violin dating from 1730.

Soloist, Violoncello da Spalla: Giedre Dirvanauskaite

Cello

Address

Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Wesselényi utca 52, Budapest, Hungary — Google Maps

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