Gift idea — great sonatas at the Elphi with Elsa Grether and Mathias Weber on the Cesar Franck grand piano

About the Event

Three great works of chamber music that refer to the same basic note A. But what different worlds they come from in terms of character and form: Schumann's Sonata in A minor, Franck's in A major and Beethoven's monumental Opus 47 — the “Kreutzer Sonata” in A minor and A major.
The sensational duo of internationally acclaimed artists, French violinist Elsa Grether and Hamburg Érard pianist Mathias Weber, captivates with its spirited, gripping, sensual and sensitive playing, in which both voices display equal flights of virtuosity as well as delicately merging magical passages. The Érard concert grand piano by César Franck from 1863, on which a breathtaking clarity and transparency of sound can be produced thanks to its parallel sides, lends the interpretation of these magnificent works a historical dimension. You can look forward to an extraordinary concert evening with this demanding program.
Of the three compositions performed this evening, Schumann's is the most demanding in terms of compositional technique: a Romantic harmony and tonality as well as a poetic, narrative attitude are intertwined with Johann Sebastian Bach's polyphony. “Romantic polyphony of the soul” may be an apt expression for this. A dark, extremely concentrated sonata movement, to be played “with passionate expression”, is followed by an Allegretto, for the most part modeled in delicate colors. The proximity to Schumann's “Märchenerzählungen” but also to the poetic miniatures of the “Kinderszenen” is palpable. Like the first movement, the reference to Bach is evident in the third movement that concludes the sonata: the long stretches of toccata‐like motoricism give this finale its determination and focus on the brilliant conclusion. All in all, a sonata of the purest chamber music, comparable to a string quartet in its complex lines.
César Franck's sonata now follows as an antithesis. A drama is rolled out in epic breadth: from the delicate, impressionistic opening, mildly radiant in light colors, through a dramatic Allegro and a tragic “Recitativo‐Fanatasia” to the happy, enthusiastic conclusion of the work, a wide arc is spanned. Complexity is made possible in this work by the alternation of subtle color mixtures, orchestral gestures and virtuoso concerto‐like competition between the two instruments. Special mention should be made of the ornate canons in the finale, which give the magnificent sound a sense of depth in a completely natural way.
Beethoven's sonata is a milestone in music history: the first monumental sonata was created. In this respect, it remains unsurpassed in chamber music. The double tonality of A minor and A major was also revolutionary at the time this composition was written. New, not to mention the unconditional, gripping and unadorned expression. The work is permeated by the breath of liberal and at the same time humanistic idealism that characterized the intellectual awakening of Europe around 1800. The beginning of the first movement already suggests something special: the violin part is set in four parts and is thus synonymous with the titanic striving of the individual to overcome limitations (the violin is a melody instrument and therefore genuinely monophonic). The piano responds with a profound harmonic expansion that opens the view to the horizon of the highly dramatic world of the Presto that follows. A movement that flies into the greatest distances. The second movement captivates with a bouquet of four variations that differ in character, sometimes playful, sometimes virtuosic, sometimes dramatic, sometimes reaching for the heights of light. The solemn and internalized conclusion of the movement is abruptly interrupted by a fortissimo chord that throws us into the world of an exuberant tarantella. Over dramatic moments, interrupted only by two pensive short adagio episodes, the music strives towards a jubilant conclusion that brings the entire epochal work to a joyful close.