Musicians of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre invite everyone to an amazing voyage across the chamber music of various time periods. They have called this evening Pianoless Music and included into its programme ensemble pieces without piano.
The concert opens with a work by the early 18th century French composer Jean-Baptiste Barriere. The music of his G major Sonata for Two Violins enthralls the audience from the very first tacts with its depth and emotionality. One moment the performers are engaged in a “polite”, melodic dialogue (Andante), and the next they are trying to get ahead of each other in their whirlwind passageworks (Allegro perstissimo). In the style of this Sonata you can feel Barriere’s mastery not only as a composer but also as one of the outstanding virtuoso cellist of his time, perfectly knowledgeable about the instrument’s capacities.
A perfect combination of the sound of stringed instruments is also found in Ludwig van Beethoven String Trio in G, Op. 9, No. 1, completed in 1798. Having tried his hand in a symphonic genre, the 28-year old composer incarnates his larger-than-life ideas in chamber forms. It’s worthy of note that that the composer dedicated these String Trios to “Premiere Mécène de sa Muse” (“foremost patron of his muse”) – to his patron Count Johann Georg von Browne, a brigadier general in the Russian army, at whose relaxed musical evening parties he gladly spent his time.
The immersion into the classical style will be supplemented with the pieces for woodwinds by two brothers – Joseph and Michael Haydn, whose legacies had absolutely different fates. If music by the elder brother carved out its place in history and the composer himself is often called “the father” of such genres as symphony and string quartet, the compositions by Michael Haydn are not heard so often. In his lifetime, he became renowned as a brilliant organist, was acquainted with Mozart, and one of his pupils was no other than Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber, who is often heralded as the founder of German romantic opera. This makes it even more interesting to hear his Divertismento for Oboe, Viola and Double Bass in C major, full of refined lightness and unstrained liveliness.
The second part of the concert is devoted to compositions of the 20th and early 21st centuries, which are already firmly entrenched in the contemporary performing repertoire. Francis Poulenc’s early Sonata for wind instruments, FP 33, was composed as “a divertissement” which is reflected in the playfulness of its outer movements – the cheerful themes of Allegro and Rondeau seem to be making fun of the motives of children’s songs.
The trombone duet Conversation by Charles Small was first performed at the Brass-Conference in New York in 1976. Its composition was conceived as a conversation between two neighbours over the fence between their houses, in which affability and amiability are interlaced with animosity and quarrels. And the music changes according to the situation.
Of special interest is the newest ensembles featuring marimba: Losa by French percussionist Emmanuel Sejourne, inspired by Spanish Flamenco music, Rosebush – a musical sketch with an oriental flavour by Brett E.E. Paschal, which got its name after a marimba making shop, and the captivating lyrical poem Rose of Sharon by Andrew Beall, inspired by a great love story of King Solomon and a Shulamite girl.
Natalia Rogudeeva
