Thursday, September 29: Sonata Series #1Please join us for the opening concert in a series featuring CMW musicians and guests celebrating the sonata form. This season, concerts take place at the Music Mansion, and we kick off the series with Jesse Holstein, Josie Davis and pianist Jeff Louie performing Bartok, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
We will be opening the program with a selection of Bela Bartok’s Duos for Two Violins. These pithy but brilliant pieces encapsulate the Hungarian composer’s unique mature style: a perfect synthesis of Eastern European folk music and the Western Classical tradition. Next on the program: Prokofiev. I’m sure we can all relate to the feeling of witnessing mediocrity and thinking, “I could do that and a lot better.” This was the sentiment expressed by Sergey Prokofiev in his 1941 autobiography regarding his Sonata for Two Violins composed in Paris, 1932: “Listening to bad music sometimes inspires good ideas… After once hearing an unsuccessful piece [unspecified] for two violins without piano accompaniment, it struck me that in spite of the apparent limitations of such a duet one could make it interesting enough to listen to for ten or fifteen minutes….” Indeed, in the span of fifteen minutes, Prokofiev scripts an incredibly rich dialogue between two violins. Written in a slow-fast-slow-fast four movement structure, the conversation runs the gamut between the most tender affections to violent brutality. This masterpiece of the violin duet repertoire will be the centerpiece of our Sonata Series performance. For the final piece on the program pianist Jeff Louie will join us for Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano written by Dmitri Shostakovich and arranged by Lev Atovmian. The pieces are charming–from a delightful polka to a witty waltz. The music is uncharacteristic of the turbulent Shostakovich that we might often imagine, and we hope it will make for an uplifting end to our journey through violin duet repertoire. –Jesse Holstein, Associate Director/Senior Resident Musician We hope you can join us for Sonata Series #1! Selections from Duos for Two Violins, Bela Bartok Josie Davis, violin Music Mansion Admission is free |
