Tasana Nagavajara, violin
Alexandre Vay, cello
Dimitri Papadopoulos, piano
The two superb French musicians, Alexandre Vay, cello and Dimitri Papadopoulos, piano who performed the complete Beethoven Cello cycle last year, will return to Eelswamp to perform another meaty program. They will play the Tchaikovsky A minor Trio and the Dvorak F minor Trio, two of the grandest works in the trio repertoire. Each trio will be performed with one of the two Brahms Cello Sonatas.
Friday 6th, 6pm
A few places available.
Dvorak, Trio in F minor, op. 65
One of Dovrak's finest chamber works, this trio was written in 1883 after the death of the composer's mother. According to Kai Christiansen, "it is uncharacteristically serious, stormy and fraught with tragic conflict, unusual for a man generally regarded as sanguine, uncomplicated and most un-neurotic...his first complex chamber music master work.. a stunning epic."
The trio is written in four movements and follows the classical model. According to Christiansen,
"The slow movement is the true heart of the trio as the wild, conflicted energies of the first two movements settle into an elegy of supreme grace and radiant affection, perhaps a sensitive man tenderly recalling his departed mother without struggle or remorse..."
Brahms Cello Sonata no. 2 in F major, op. 99.
Written in the mountain retreat of Hofstetten in 1886, this a mature work in four movements, described by one of Brahms's pupil's, Florence May, as "broad and energetic, touching, passionate and vivacious".
Sunday 8th, 5pm
Waiting list only
Tchaikovsky Trio in A minor and Brahms Cello Sonata in E minor.
In 1880, Tchaikovsky famously refused to write a trio, after being requested by one of his most beloved benefactors. He wrote,
You ask why I have never written a trio. Forgive me, dear friend; I would do anything to give you pleasure, but this is beyond me ... I simply cannot endure the combination of piano with violin or cello. To my mind the timbre of these instruments will not blend ... it is torture for me to have to listen to a string trio or a sonata of any kind for piano and strings.
Nonetheless, on the death of his friend, Nikolay Rubenstein, in 1883, Tchaikovsky relented and wrote one of the most superb trios in the chamber music repertoire. The A minor Trio is a grand work in two big movements, the second of which is a set of variations on a theme, ranging through numerous musical forms, including a mazurka and a fugue. No doubt the variations sketch a portrait of Rubenstein. The trio has a wonderful sense of balance as the main theme in the first movement comes back to replace the mirth of the variations, and we are left in a reflective mood, to contemplate the enormity of the composer's loss.
Brahms Cello Sonata no. 1 in E minor, op. 38.
This sonata is a homage to Bach. Both the first and third movements resemble Bach's "Art of Fugue", with quotes from Contrapunctus 4 and 13 from that great work. It was written between 1863 and 1865, when Brahms was in his early thirties.
Alexandre Vay and Dimitri Papadopoulos are two French musicians who have been playing together since Conservatory days in Lyon. Alexandre is co-soloist in the Munich Radio Orchestra. Dimitri is 'Professeur' at Geneva Conservatory. Alexandre and Dimitri performed the complete Beethoven Cello Sonata and Variation cycle last year at Eelswamp and I am delighted to have them return for another ambitious program.
Reservations: 1,200 baht for one concert. 2,000 baht for both. Email asiachart@hotmail.com or call 038 069681 office hours. Due to limited number of places payment must be received before the day.
Directions to Eelswamp: search for 'Eelswamp' on google maps. Directions can be found at the bottom of this page: http://eelswamp.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-music-room-at-eelswamp.html
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