MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN / AUGUSTIN HADELICH / ALEXANDRA CONUNOVA…
A Rencontre Inédite of the kind we love, with a Brahms trio brimming with unforgettable themes and a keyboard virtuoso, Marc-André Hamelin, who joins an outstanding string trio (Conunova, La Marca, Blendulf) in the youthful quartet of a Richard Strauss already in full command of his means.
Programme
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Piano Trio No. 1 in B major Op. 8
(Hamelin, Hadelich, Han)
Interval
RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 13
(Hamelin, Conunova, La Marca, Blendulf)
Artist(s)
- Alexandra Conunova violin
- Augustin Hadelich violin
- Adrien La Marca viola
- Daniel Blendulf cello
- Jaemin Han cello
- Marc-André Hamelin piano
Find out more
It took more than thirty years for Brahms to be satisfied with his Piano Trio No. 1. In 1853, the young German composer met Robert and Clara Schumann. Encouraged by them, he agreed to publish this spirited trio, before forgetting it. Brahms took advantage of the republication of his works by his new publisher in 1889 to overhaul this youthful work, cutting a good third of its music. The final result is magnificent, the gaze at once moved and respectful of a man of 56 on the young man he had been at 21.
In a sense, pairing Brahms and Strauss is itself an unexpected encounter, so sharply does the restrained grandeur of the former clash with the imperious sensuality of the latter’s music. The meeting did take place, however, when Strauss was studying music in Berlin. Dazzled by the music of his elder, he planned in 1884 a piano quartet of very large dimensions consciously modelled on Brahms. Soon the future composer of An Alpine Symphony would abandon chamber music in favour of opera and the large orchestra, but this gem remains for us to rediscover this morning, especially when performed by such a quartet of musicians.
