Concert Mario Brunello in the series of concerts "Bach Shuffle" marking the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach. Kancheli. Ives World famous Mariinsky Ballet and Opera Theatre - Opera and Concert Hall
Schedule for Mario Brunello in the series of concerts "Bach Shuffle" marking the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach. Kancheli. Ives 2022
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach Clarinet: Ivan Stolbov Composer: Giya Kancheli bassoon: Rodion Tolmachev Flute: Nikolai Mokhov Conductor: Mario Brunello
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra
The programme
includes: Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg
Concerto No 1
Soloists: Stanislav Izmailov (violin),
Alexei Pozin (french horn),
Petr Rodin (french horn),
Emil Miroslavsky (oboe),
Viktor Ukhalin (oboe),
Andrei Yankovsky (oboe),
Rodion Tolmachev (bassoon),
Valeria Rumiantseva (harpsichord)
Giya Kancheli Morning Prayers
Soloists: Nikolai Mokhov (flute),
Valeria Rumiantseva (harpsichord),
Demian Gorodnichin (electric bass guitar)
Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 2
Soloists: Stanislav Izmailov (violin),
Alexander Kiskachi (block flute),
Emil Miroslavsky (oboe),
Leonid Guriev (cornet),
Valeria Rumiantseva (harpsichord)
Charles Ives The Unanswered Question
Soloists: Nikolai Mokhov (flute),
Alexander Ozeritsky (flute),
Sergei Kruchkov (cornet),
Emil Miroslavsky (oboe),
Ivan Stolbov (clarinet)
Mariinsky
Orchestra Conductor: Mario Brunello
On 24 March 1721 Johann Sebastian
Bach sent Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg,
the scores of six concerti “for various instruments.”
The Margrave, whom Bach had met in 1719 in Berlin,
was a passionate music lover who collected the scores
of more than two hundred concerti by various composers
in addition to being a strong proponent of Antonio Vivaldi.
Bach’s Brandenburg concerti were based on a model created
by Vivaldi (almost all are in three movements
and feature wind instruments), but each of them is highly
original. No two are alike, each is unique, and together
they comprise a veritable encyclopaedia of Baroque music. Bach
gave prominence to the concerto which, it seems, he prized
more than other music genres. The first movement of
Concerto No 1 for Two French Horns, Three Oboes, Bassoon,
Octave Violin, Strings and Basso continuo
appeared in 1713 under the title of a
“Symphony.” In 1726 Bach used it again as an introduction
to his Cantata No 52 Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht
(False World, I Do Not Trust You). The same year,
the concerto’s third movement became the chorus that opens
(secular) Cantata No 207, which law students
of the University of Leipzig performed to mark a new
professor’s appointment. In 1734 Bach gave the cantata
a new text (Auf schmetternde Tцne der muntern Trompeten
(Up, Lively Trumpets’ Blaring Sounds)), on this occasion dedicating
it to the name-day of Augustus III,
Prince-Elector of Saxony.
Concerto No 1 is also the longest
of the Brandenburg concerti: the three compulsory movements
are followed by a minuet and a polonaise, giving it
the appearance of an overture-suite.
Concerto No 2 for End-blown Flute, Oboe, Violin,
Trumpet, Strings and Basso continuo has always
been a stumbling block for performers. The Brandenburg
concerti in general stand out for their use of rare
instruments and the extreme complexity of the music,
but in this particular score the trumpet part exceeds every
imaginable difficulty. In the 20th century an attempt
was made to replace the trumpet with the clarinet
and soprano saxophone, and in Germany a special “Bach
trumpet” (something Bach himself had not even imagined)
was even produced. Today, as before, this music
can only be performed by true virtuoso musicians.
But when performed well, every facet of Bach’s orchestration
dazzles, emanating light and joy – the Brandenburg concerti
are among the most poetic works ever written
by any musician. Anna Bulycheva
Giya Kancheli has composed symphony and chamber
music in various genres and is widely known for his music
for films (Mimino and Kin-dza-dza among others), the musical comedy
Hanuma and music for plays staged by such directors as Georgy
Tovstonogov and Robert Sturua. Since 1991 Kancheli has lived
in Europe – initially in Berlin and, since 1995,
in Antwerp. Kancheli’s deeply individual composition style can sometimes
be recognised from just a few bars of the score.
Its principal and most powerful expressive means are the contrast
between the music of silence and grandiose “avalanches” of sound,
between focussed quiet song and expressive triumphant explosions,
as unexpected as a peal of thunder. The cycle Life
without Christmas (1991 – 1993) includes four works –
Morning Prayers, Daytime Prayers, Evening Prayers and
Night Time Prayers – for chamber orchestra, various solo instruments
and a tape recording. Evening Prayers, the first part written,
is dedicated to Alfred Schnittke, who at the time
was seriously ill having suffered his second stroke. Unlike liturgical
music written to canonical texts, Kancheli’s cycle
was not intended to be used in church services.
As the composer himself says, “For me, Life without Christmas
is a spiritual work but not a church piece. Like
Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms or Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony with
its Peace to Thee with the Saints or Mahler’s Eighth
Symphony... The individual parts of the cycle
can be performed absolutely anywhere –
as at the premieres... Either way, the sound
of the psalms in a recording, whatever the place
and time, transforms them into some kind of moral
postulations... The heavenly, “angelic” images of the Morning
Prayers soar at some unreachable height, filling the gaze fixed upon it
with sadness...” It is hard to imagine better “surroundings”
for Giya Kancheli’s Morning Prayers than the music of Johann
Sebastian Bach. Iosif Raiskin
The Unanswered Question (1908) is the “calling
card” of American composer Charles Ives.
The charm of this utterly avant-garde piece lies
in the combination of seriousness and innocence.
In a break with traditions (or rather in his naivety
not suspecting their existence), at the same time Ives
made sure he built bridges between the work
and the audience. It is hard to say what is more
attractive – the piece itself or its programme,
which is written into the score. The strings,
which Ives advised be placed offstage, are so quiet they
can barely be heard, embodying “the silence of druids
who know, see and say nothing.” The trumpet (or,
in its absence, the oboe, English horn or clarinet) repeats
the “eternal question of life” at the same time
as the “flutes and other elements” are occupied
in “looking for an answer.” All of these sound objects
are freely scattered in time – the performers indulge
in “a little impromptu.” Anna Bulycheva
Schedule for Mario Brunello in the series of concerts "Bach Shuffle" marking the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach. Kancheli. Ives 2022
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