Part of «Chamber Music Plus»
Franz Liszt: «À la Chapelle Sixtine» for Piano four Hands S. 633
James MacMillan: «Kiss on Wood» for Violin and Piano (1993)
Franz Schubert: Eight Variations on an Original Theme A flat major D 813
Franz Liszt: «Tristia» for Violin, Violoncello and Piano S. 378c
Transcription of «Vallée d’Obermann» from «Album d’un voyageur» S. 156 No. 5
Duration approx. 70 minutes, no interval
After the pilgrim concerts of the day, the focus will be on three composers, two of whom, the lay priest Franz Liszt, who was ordained in 1865, and the lay Dominican James MacMillan, felt a strong affinity to the Catholic Church. Franz Schubert, on the other hand, was critical of the Church - he consistently omitted the line «et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam» (I believe in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church) from the Credo in his masses. However, his gently melancholic piano variations are linked to the concert theme of «pilgrimage» through the topos of wandering and alienation.
Franz Liszt later arranged his vision of the «Vallée d'Obermann», which originated as a piano piece, for piano trio, giving the passionate work even more emotional impact. His musical impressions from the Sistine Chapel show Gregorio Allegri's Miserere and Mozart's Ave Verum between powerful virtuosity and the greatest simplicity.
MacMillan's «Kiss on Wood» is a peaceful paraphrase of the Good Friday verse «Ecce lignum crucis...» (Behold the wood of the cross on which the Saviour of the world hung: Come, let us adore him).
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Musicians:
Piano: Joonas Ahonen (Schubert); Alasdair Beatson (Liszt, MacMillan, Schubert); Paolo Giacometti (Liszt, Liszt)
Violin: Chiara Sannicandro (Liszt); Maria Włoszczowska (MacMillan)
Violoncello: Chiara Samatanga (Liszt)
Concert introduction with Lea Vaterlaus
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