Nacht -Trio:
Linda Hedlund violin
Miguel Tamarit Barres clarinet
Risto-Matti Marin piano
Programme
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Der Hirt auf dem Felsen
D.Milhaud (1892-1974): Suite for clarinet, violin and piano Op. 157b (1936)
- Ouverture 2. Divertissement 3. Jeu 4. Introduction et Final
A. Khatsaturjan (1903-1978): Trio for clarinet, violin and piano
- Andante con dolore 2. Allegro 3. Moderato
D. Shostakovich (1906-1975): Five songs
1. Prelude 2. Gavotte 3. Elegy 4. Waltz 5. Polka
G. Enescu (1881-1955): 1ª Rhapsodia Roumaine
The first work, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) by Franz Schubert (1797-1828), was commissioned by soprano Anna Milder-Hauptmann and composed in 1828 to a poem by Wilhelm Müller and Karl August Varnhagen von Ense. In the song, the shepherd laments his loneliness and longs to be with his beloved, who is far away from him. The clarinet represents the shepherd’s scalmei (woodwind instrument) and the vocal part is performed in this version as a violin solo.
The Armenian composer Aram Khatsaturjan (1903-1978) was destined to become a biologist and did not study music until he was selected to study cello at the Gnes Academy of Music in Moscow. He was also a self-taught tuba and piano player. Khatsaturjan studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory in the early 1930s when he also composed a trio for clarinet, violin and piano.
The work already contains the rhythmic and harmonic patterns that are typical of him and which identify him in his later, more mature works. In his clarinet trio, Khatsaturjan uses the violin instead of the viola or cello, unlike Beethoven, Mozart or Brahms. The violin plays higher, forming a more equal partner to the clarinet, and the instruments share melodic parts throughout the work.
Khatsaturjan’s musical language contains rhythms, folk songs and harmonies that are sharp but also occasionally melancholic in nature. The second part is influenced by folk dances and the third part consists of variations on an Uzbek folk song, which above all gives the clarinet a powerful role as an instrument of folk music.
Like Dimitri Shostakovitch (1906-1975), Khatsaturjan was a composer of the Soviet era, highly respected but also subject to harsh criticism and censorship. Shostakovitch’s five pieces, originally composed for two violins and piano, include music and fragments from his film scores.
Darius Milhaud’s (1892-1974) suite for violin, piano and clarinet is also based on film music. The work includes musical material from Jean Anhouil’s film Voyageur sans bagage (1936).
The concert concludes with an arrangement of George Enescu’s (1881-1955) Rhapsodie Roumaine, composed in Paris in 1901. Enescu’s two rhapsodies are regular works in the repertoire of symphony orchestras and, as their name suggests, contain nuances of Romanian folk music.