Tuesday June 11, 20.00
Sala Unicaja de Concierto María Cristina
DRAMATIC CONTRASTS
E. Grieg: String quartet no.1 in G minor, Op.27
Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin / Jesús Reina violin / Eleanor Kendra James viola / Gabriel Ureña cello
R. Schumann / J. Brahms: Intermezzo and scherzo from the F-A-E sonata, for violin and piano
Koh Gabriel Kameda violin / Kiril Keduk piano
F. Cilea: ‘E la solita storia del pastore’ (Lamento di Federico),
from the opera L’arlesiana, for tenor and piano
G. Puccini: ‘E lucevan le stelle’, from the opera Tosca, for tenor and piano
Nils Georg Nilsen tenor / Sergio Montero piano
L. van Beethoven: Grosse fugue in Bb major, Op.133, for string quartet
Jesús Reina violin / Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin / Eleanor Kendra James viola /
Gabriel Ureña cello
The festival opens with the grand unison of the Quartet in g minor by Grieg. The Norwegian composer manages to recreate an orchestral sonority, giving the impression that the quartet formation expands in a piece which evokes nordic nature. Schumann and Brahms are meat and bone in this work in which the composers collaborated. It expresses the most sincere intimacy of the artist in the Intermezzo and, in the Scherzo, a defying gesture towards destiny from the artist. The aria by Cilea, in crescendo, of the second act of L’Arlesiana, tells us of a deep and impossible love between Federico, its main character, and the girl of Arles, which gives the title to the opera. Another love story takes the scene, this time depicting the painter Cavaradossi, who is in love with Tosca, and expresses his pain from the Castle Sant’Angelo where he awaits his execution. Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge finishes the program. It is a vast work which consists of a double fugue. It was criticized in its premier as “incomprehensible” and described, in the words of Stravinsky, as a work which “will remain contemporary forever”.
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Wednesday June 12, 20.00
Sala Unicaja de Concierto María Cristina
LIGHT AND COLORS
C.Saint-Saëns: Sonata for violin and piano no.1 in D minor, Op.75
Jesús Reina violin / Misha Dacić piano
V. Bellini: ‘Son geloso del zefiro errante’, from the opera La sonnambula, dúo for soprano and tenor with piano
Susanne Hvinden Hals soprano / Nils Georg Nilsen tenor / Sergio Montero piano
J. Brahms: String sextet no. 2 in G major, Op. 36
Koh Gabriel Kameda violin / Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin / Chieh-Fan Yiu viola /
Eleanor Kendra James viola / Krzysztof Karpeta cello / Gabriel Ureña cello
Already from a very young age, Saint-Saëns was an admirer of composers like Schumann, Liszt or Wagner. Belonging to the romantic era, the French composer not only created a musical content full of beauty, sensibility and clarity, as the sonata here presented, but he also was a strong influence on his pupil Gabriel Fauré (whose sonata you will here later on in the festival) and on Ravel, who in turn studied with Fauré. The program follows with composer Vincenzo Bellini, known to write long and beautiful melodies, following the line of what is defined as bel canto. In the moving duet, from the opera La sonnambula, one can witness the promise from Elvino to Amina to control his extreme jealousy (he admits to being jealous of the “breeze that touches you”). Brahms has had a very important role in the history of music from the romantic period. He is one of the pivotal figures of the time. As you can appreciate in this beautiful sextet, his work is full of open sounds, contrast of textures and rich and colorful harmonies.
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Thursday June 13, 20.00
Cine Albéniz
PURCHASE TICKETS
EXPRESSIVE EXPLOSION
J. Brahms: Piano trio no.3 in c minor, Op.101
Jesús Reina violin / Krzysztof Karpeta cello / Kiryl Keduk piano
V. Bellini: ‘Malinconia, ninfa gentile’, ‘Vanne, o rosa fortunata’, ‘Bella Nice, che d’amore’ and ‘Ma rendi pur contento’ from Composizioni da camara, for tenor and piano
P. Mascagni: ‘Ave Maria’ (Intermezzo), from Cavalleria rusticana, for tenor, strings and piano
Nils Georg Nilsen tenor / Sergio Montero piano / Artists from the festiva,l strings
A. Dvořák: Piano quintet no.2 in A major, Op.81
Koh Gabriel Kameda violin / Jesús Reina violin / Chieh-Fan Yiu viola /
Gabriel Urea cello / Misha Dacić piano
The Trio that opens this musical evening, does so with a character that represents the title of this festival’s edition. In this piece we find an assertive, generous and thrilling Brahms. The four pieces that continue, by the Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, are a selection from Composizioni da camera, which consists of a collection of 15 songs, of generally more simple and melodious style, differing from his operatic works. The “Ave Maria” of Pietro Mascagni is part of the opera Cavalleria rusticana, which received tremendous success since its conception, becoming a classic. The renown Quintet by Check composer Antonin Dvořák, closes this encounter full of expressiveness. This composition is an in-depth revision (practically a recomposition), following the destruction by the composer of the first version. It is, undoubtedly, a masterpiece of the genre: a piece full of liveliness and lyricism, with a dancing spirit from the region of Bohemia.
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Saturday June 15, 20.00
Cine Albéniz
G. Fauré: Pleurs d’or, Op.72, duo for soprano and tenor with piano
Puisqu’ici-bas toute âme, Op.10, duo for soprano and tenor with piano
Susanne Hvinden Hals soprano / Nils Georg Nilsen tenor / Sergio Montero piano
G. Fauré: Sonata for violin and piano no.1 in A major, Op.13
Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin / Kiryl Keduk piano
HEARTFELT
The life of Fauré coincided with the development of different musical styles, from Romanticism to jazz to atonal music. From very early on in his life, Fauré showed great vocation for music, becoming a composer, organist, pianist and professor. The French composer was a great influence on his contemporaries and also on future generations of musicians. Despite the time span between Op.10 and Op.72, Fauré interweaves the high and lower voices in both works, making the voices cross each other in pitch and register. The Sonata for violin and piano is of a highlighted romanticism while still maintaining elegance. There are moments (specifically in the second movement) in which one perceives a sound similar to that of a heartbeat. ‘Je crois entendre encore’ speaks to us of a love whose power is superior to the promise of friendship. The opera from which the aria comes from had 18 performances in its first presentation in 1863, when Bizet was 25 years old. Mendelssohn is a composer who looks from the past to the future. In this heartfelt work, the composer honors Beethoven, using cyclical forms inspired in his works as never before. This gave way to the use of such structures in pieces of future composers, such as Franck. Throughout the quartet, Mendelssohn uses the motif of one of his songs: ‘Ist es wahr?’ (Is it true?). The Quartet in a minor was written when he was just 18 years old, and the same year of Beethoven’s death (1827).
G. Bizet: ‘Je crois entendre encore’, from the opera Les pêcheurs de perles,
for tenor and piano
Nils Georg Nilsen tenor / Sergio Montero piano
F. Mendelssohn: String quartet no.2 in A minor, Op.13
Jesús Reina violin / Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin / Eleanor Kendra James viola /
Krzysztof Karpeta cello
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Sunday June 16, 19.00
TEATRO CERVANTES
PURCHASE TICKETS
EXPANSIVE
G. Mahler: ‘Adagietto’ from the Symphony no.5, for strings
Academia Galamian Orchestra and Artists of the festival
A. Arensky: Piano quintet in D major, Op.51
Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin / Koh Gabriel Kameda violin / Chieh-Fan Yiu viola / Krzysztof Karpeta cello / Misha Dacić piano
P. Mascagni: ‘Suzel, buon di’ (Cherry duet) from the opera L’amico Fritz, duo for soprano and tenor with piano
Susanne Hvinden Hals soprano / Nils Georg Nilsen tenor / Sergio Montero piano
G. Enescu: String octet in C major, Op. 7
Jesús Reina violin / Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin / Koh Gabriel Kameda violin /
Laura Romero Alba violin / Eleanor Kendra James viola / Chieh-Fan Yiu viola /
Gabriel Ureña cello / Krzysztof Karpeta cello
Expansion in color, number and expression, that is what this closing program proposes: in color because of instrumentation, in number because of the extension in the ensembles and in expression because each composer expresses their idea individually and innovatively. As the mahlerian expert Donald Mitchell stated, the ‘Adagietto’ is a “song without words”. It is a love letter in the form of a musical manuscript which Mahler offers to his then future wife, Alma Schindler. Mahler uses an expanded format of instrumentation (orchestra) to say something intimate, amplifying the content of the message. Despite his Russian roots and Tchaikovsky’s influences, one can glimpse through the music of Arensky composers such as Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann. The Piano quintet is an audacious piece, as one can hear in the grand chords of the piano or the melodic passages that pass between the instruments, highlighting their expressive qualities. The duo that follows the program belongs to the opera L’amico Fritz, probably the most popular opera of composer Pietro Mascagni together with Cavalleria rusticana. The opera tells of the power of the love of Suzel over Fritz, and how that is the cure for the misogyny of the protagonist. To close this program and the festival, the Octet by George Enescu, a composer, violinist, pianist, cellist and conductor. A variety of contrasting ideas shape the piece in four movements and cyclical form. Uniting folklore, counterpoint and orchestration, this impressive work shows the artistic vision of a composer who is, in the words of renown cellist Pau Casals, “one of the greatest geniuses of modern music”.
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