31 May, 2024
MACABRE JOURNEY
Echegaray Theatre, 8 p.m.
- Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979)
- ‘Passacaglia on an Old English Tune’, for viola and piano
- Tomoko Akasaka viola
- Josu de Solaun piano
- Max Bruch (1838-1920)
- ‘Kol Nidrei’, Op. 47, for cello and piano
- Gabriel Ureña cello
- Natalia Kuchaeva piano
- Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
- ‘Danse macabre’, Op. 40, for piano 4 hands
- Natalia Kuchaeva piano
- Josu de Solaun piano
- Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)
- ‘Prayer’, No. 1 from From Jewish Life, B. 54, for cello and piano
- Per Nyström cello
- Josu de Solaun piano
- Dmitri Shostakóvich (1906-1975)
- Piano trio no. 2 in E minor, Op. 67
- Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin
- Per Nyström cello
- Natalia Kuchaeva piano
The "Macabre Journey" program plunges us into a dark musical odyssey. Clarke opens with her Passacaglia, a piece invoking mysterious atmospheres. Bruch, with Kol Nidrei, offers a profoundly resonant cello and piano lament.
Saint-Saëns uses Henri Cazalis's poem to bring us his “Danse Macabre”. According to the legend the poem is based on, death appears on the midnight of Halloween to call forth the dead to dance for him while he plays his fiddle.
Bloch presents his brief yet poignant “Prayer” for cello and piano. Shostakovich closes with his Piano Trio No. 2, where lament and urgency intertwine in a musical narrative exploring the extremes of emotional expression.