In the program:
I d.
Giedrius Kuprevičius - "Summer night with Naujalius" for string quartet
Robert Schumann - String Quartet in A minor, Op. 41, no. 1
II d.
Ernst von Dohnányi - Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 1
May 4 The Kaunas Philharmonic invites the audience to a sensual concert "Con passione", where one of the most important classical music ensembles in Kaunas - the Kaunas String Quartet - will play, and pianist Indrė Petrauskaitė, a graduate of the London Royal Academy of Music who is returning to her homeland for concerts from Great Britain, will play the piano. The program prepared by the performers will include the works of composers Giedrias Kuprevičius, Robert Schumann, Ernst von Dohnányi.
Giedrius Kuprevičius - "Summer Night with Naujalius" for string quartet (2002)
Giedrius Kuprevičius, one of the most productive and well-known Lithuanian composers, laureate of the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize, celebrates his 80th birthday this year. This creator is an extremely versatile personality: composer, pedagogue, essayist and polemicist. Most of his life and activities are related to Kaunas. There have been a number of interesting turns in the creative biography of the composer: in the eighties of the last century, he founded the electronic music group "Argo" of the Kaunas Musical Theater, he played the Kaunas carillon for many years and was appointed the chief bell ringer of the city of Kaunas. The composer wrote one of the most popular musicals in Lithuania, "Fignies medziuklė su varovais", and the song "Kregždutės" from this musical became one of the most popular works in Lithuania. The composer constantly writes music in traditional genres as well: he creates operas, symphonies, chamber works, oratorios and vocal cycles. This music by G. Kuprevičius is moderately modern, in many works the dominance of improvisational beginnings and clear connections with literature or fine art can be observed. The composer himself wrote about the piece for the quartet "Summer Nights with Naujalius": "You always want to lean on more solid creative figures with the hope that you will become more solid yourself. Driven by such noble goals, I approached Juozas Naujalis, who is not my favorite anyway. Summer nights always inspire adventures. Mine, connected with a look at Naujalis's sentimental melody "Tylios melanos zasveris kytys...", became a piece for string quartet, later - a version for chamber orchestra. <...> Music, with as much irony as respect for the Patriarch, is like a game that separates the feeling from the mind."
Robert Schumann - String Quartet in A minor, Op. 41 no. 1 (1842)
German composer Robert Schumann's (1810-1856) first string quartet, like many of his other opuses, is named after the love of the composer's life, the composer and pianist Clara Schumann. All three quartets from this opus were first performed as a 23rd birthday present for Clara in 1842. September 13
Researchers often name 1842 as the year of R. Schumann's chamber music. In those years, the composer intensively studied the chamber music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn, by the way, he dedicated this opus to the latter. Although R. Schumann's string quartets are less frequently performed in concert programs than other popular opus of this genre, they speak of the composer's intensive chamber music studies and his unique imagination and mastery. This quartet opus is particularly important as a bridge between Mendelssohn's and Brahms' quartets, which are separated by an interval of 30 years. In the first quartet, one can feel the esoteric ideas of Mozart and especially Beethoven, the rhythmic charm of Mendelssohn and the "galloping" of Schubert. A fiery finale of symphonic proportions, somewhat reminiscent of the uncontrollable power of late Beethoven, brings this masterpiece to an epic close.
Ernst von Dohnányi - Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 1 (1895)
The Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960) was one of the most prominent musicians of the 20th century. personalities of the first half. E. von Dohnányi was not only the author of many compositions (he composed for piano, orchestra, chamber ensembles, choir, wrote several operas and instrumental concerts), but he was also an important public figure of that time, an outstanding performer and pedagogue.
Among E. von Dohnányi's students are artists who have enriched the history of performing arts, such as Mischa Levitzki, Géza Anda, Annie Fischer, György Cziffra and many others.
E. von Dohnányi as a conductor was an active promoter of the new music of that era; he himself conducted the premiere of works by Bartók, Kodály and other composers.
As a pianist, E. Dohnányi performed in halls in the USA and Germany at the age of twenty. He also made his debut in London - one of the most prestigious halls in Europe at that time - "Queen's Hall". By the way, the composer is also the founder of the Ferenc Liszt International Piano Competition (1933).
He studied at the Hungarian National Academy of Music (now the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music), in the piano class of István Thomán, Liszt's most beloved student, and in the composition class of Hans von Koessler.