Program

PROGRAM

Claude Debussy: Premiere Rhapsodie

Maurice Ravel: Klavertrio

Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time

For tonight’s concert on October 9th, there will be an opportunity to experience some of the finest French music from the 20th century, played by four of the most interesting and strong chamber musicians of recent years.

Debussy’s “Premiere Rhapsodie” for piano and clarinet was originally written for use in clarinet exams at the Paris Conservatory in 1910, and therefore demands a lot from both performers, with calm passages alternating with expressive outbursts.

Maurice Ravel had been working on his piano trio for several years before finally completing it under the impression of the outbreak of war in 1914. The work, which is in four movements, combines classical forms with, among other things, a Basque theme, and uses a wide range of technically demanding effects that color the music in a way characteristic of Ravel.

“Quartet for the End of Time” is considered one of Messiaen’s most important and personal works. The suffering he endured as an internee in a German prison camp is transformed into this unforgettable masterpiece in 8 movements, where suffering and hope are expressed through elements from the Book of Revelation.

PROGRAM 

Huang Ruo: Fisherman’s sonnet

Johannes Brahms: Heimweh I: Wie traulich war das Fleckchen

Chen Yi: Know You How Many Petals Falling

Johannes Brahms: Heimweh II: O Wüsst ich doch den Weg zurück

Chen Yi: Monologue

Chinese folksong: Northeast Lullaby

Xavier Montsalvatge: Cinco Canciones Negras

Johannes Brahms: Love songs

Takemitsu, Trenet m.fl.: Cabaret Songs

The program is unusually diverse and varied when the charismatic and versatile mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron performs at Mogens Dahl Concert Hall with pianist Julius Drake, a highly acclaimed accompanist with whom Fleur Barron has collaborated for several years.

As mentioned, the program covers a wide range. The duo begins the evening with lied songs by Johannes Brahms, juxtaposed with songs by the two contemporary Chinese-American composers Huang Ruo and Chen Yi. Although their musical styles differ, the songs revolve around the same themes: home and homesickness.

Xavier Montsalvatge, who died in 2002, was one of the most influential artists in Catalan music. His “Cinco Canciones Negras” (“Five Black Songs”) from 1945 was written as poems to give voice to victims of Spanish colonialism. Montsalvatge created his ethnically inspired musical language to add depth and meaning to the texts.

After the intermission, seven of Johannes Brahms’ love songs follow before the evening ends with something completely different: cabaret songs by Charles Trenet, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Toru Takemitsu.

Program 

• 19.00: Introduction by Thomas Michelsen (In danish)

Vagn Holmboe:

• Song at Sunset opus 138b for choir (1978),
• Die Erfüllung opus 183 for choir, solo soprano, solo baritone and horns: flute, oboe, clarinet, fagotto, two trumpets, bassoon and tuba  (1990/1993)
• Ode til Sjælen opus 161 for choir, brass sixtet (two trumpets, two horns, bassoon and tuba) and organ (1985)
• Zeit opus 94 for string quartet and alto (1966/67)
• Solhymne opus 77 for choir (1960),

At this year’s All Saints’ Concert, Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir aims to pay tribute to one of the great composers of Danish music: Vagn Holmboe.

Externally, Vagn Holmboe kept a low profile about it, but internally, in his music, he was always guided by spiritual thoughts about music as a manifestation of something cosmic. Nothing less.

Therefore, he seized the opportunity when the Rudolf Steiner movement asked him to compose a work with texts by the romantic mystic and poet Novails. The work became ‘Die Erfüllung’, which had its premiere in the Steiner context but, until now, despite being one of Holmboe’s major works and a core piece in his repertoire, has never been performed or recorded.

The sister work to ‘Die Erfüllung’ is the quintet ‘Zeit’ for string quartet and alto voice. It is a work that similarly has a mystical and cosmic outlook and has also not been recorded so far, even though Holmboe assigned opus numbers to both works and clearly valued them both.

The rest of the concert program also reflects the spiritual aspect of Holmboe’s art and worldview, focusing on the cyclic nature of reincarnation, which guided his view of composing cosmic music, as he called it.

The sunset is also present in the ancient Egyptian “Hymn to the Sun,” which describes the sun’s journey from sunrise to sunset until the new sunrise, and, of course, in “Song of Sunset” with lyrics by Walt Whitman.

Overall, with this concert, we aim to provide a new insight into the core of Holmboe’s perspective on what music was and what music could do: namely, provide human beings with insight into the cosmic or higher order, as he also referred to it in his private diary – just as Thomas Michelsen has detailed in his biography of the composer, ‘The Profound and the Pure,’ making extensive use of previously unpublished sources such as Holmboe’s diaries.

PROGRAM

Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in B Major, Op 9, No.3
Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in Des Major, Op.27, No.2
Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata in B Minor, Op 58, No.3
Interval
Robert Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 ( incl Op. Post)

The Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter concludes the autumn season with a concert featuring piano music by Chopin and Schumann, two of the most significant composers from the early Romantic period.

While Chopin primarily composed piano music, Schumann wrote orchestral works and chamber music, among other genres, in his later years.

However, both composers share the characteristic that many of their piano compositions explore the possibilities and limitations of the instrument. This often results in their works demanding great skill from the performer, as exemplified by tonight’s two main pieces.

In Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, the piano’s possibilities are explored instrumentally through a series of variations primarily based on one theme. On the other hand, Chopin’s third and final sonata follows a well-known four-movement form. It is worth noting that these three sonatas are among the few multi-movement works by Chopin. Most of his compositions are single-movement character pieces, a widely used expressive form in Romantic piano literature and often contained great melodic beauty. The Ballade in F minor, Op. 52, and Nocturne in B major, Op. 9, are beautiful examples.

PROGRAM:
G. F. Händel: Messias

MEDVIRKENDE:
Mogens Dahl Kammerkor

Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment

Dirigent: Mogens Dahl

TORSDAG 14. DECEMBER 2023 kl. 19.30
FREDAG 15. DECEMBER 2023 KL. 19.30
Holmens Kirke, København

PROGRAM:
G. F. Händel: Messias

MEDVIRKENDE:
Mogens Dahl Kammerkor

Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment

Dirigent: Mogens Dahl

TORSDAG 14. DECEMBER 2023 kl. 19.30
FREDAG 15. DECEMBER 2023 KL. 19.30
Holmens Kirke, København