The Program 2010
Saturday 31 July 2010
4 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Opening Concert • Sorcerer´s Apprentices and Witches´ Cauldrons
LIGETI: Désordre and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, from Études pour piano
SKRIABIN: Vers la flamme, poem for solo piano op. 72
MILSTEIN: Paganiniana for solo violin
SZYMANOWSKI: Mythen. Three poems for violin and piano op. 30
KAUL: Glowing Sea for flute, bass, percussion and tape-recording (world premiere)
Between the works: readings of texts by GOETHE
ANDREJ BIELOW (violin) KONSTANTIN LIFSCHITZ (piano)
MATTHIAS KAUL (percussion) JOHN ECKHARDT (double bass)
ASTRID SCHMELING (flute) SIEGFRIED W. KERNEN (reading)
This concert’s “moderator” may well be one of the most prominent natural scientists among the world’s artists: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Faust”, he dealt with “whatever holds the world together in its inmost folds”. Tilo Werner, actor at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, reads Goethe’s texts to introduce virtuoso pieces for violin and piano. The concert climaxes in a world premiere by composer Matthias Kaul. The underwater sounds recorded by a research container in the Antarctic inspired this work.
8 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Percussion Concert • The Barrage
Bulgarian Dances, Japanese Drums, Music for Tables and Lighters
VIA NOVA PERCUSSION GROUP
The four young musicians of the Via Nova Percussion Group enjoy a reputation as some of the best in their field. This describes their program as well, this one arranged especially for the festival’s “Off to the Lab!” theme. Intoxicating Balkan folk dances, virtuoso Japanese drum music – in everything they play, the drumsticks spin till they sparkle. And special surprise guests really turn the stage into a laboratory!
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Sunday 1 August 2010
9.30 a.m. Hotel Waldfrieden
Everyman´s Choir
11 a.m. St. John´s Church in Hitzacker
The Universe Concert • The Laboratory of Charles Ives
BOULANGER TRIO JOHANNIS-CHOR HITZACKER BLASKAPELLE KAARSSEN
CANTICUM NOVUM STADTMUSIK LÜCHOW and many more
Charles Ives opened horizons to music wider than almost anyone’s. Revered as a pioneer of American music by musicians like Leonard Bernstein, he has remained something of a mystery to the general public. The “Laboratory of Charles Ives” presents a portrait of this fascinating, multi-facetted musician and composer, with chamber music in the St. Johannis Church, outdoor concerts and activities, a workshop concert and films everywhere on Hitzacker’s Old City Island and right up to the shores of the Elbe. This is a must for the curious!
8 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Chamber Music • Bach and Shostakovich
BACH: The Art of the Fugue for piano BWV 1080 in dialogue with
BACH: The Art of the Fugue for string quartet BWV 1080
SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Quintet in G minor op. 57
KONSTANTIN LIFSCHITZ (piano) SZYMANOWSKI QUARTET
He gave his debut in Moscow twenty years ago, and since then he has enjoyed a reputation as one of the world’s greatest interpreters of Bach: Konstantin Lifschitz. In Hitzacker, he’s playing the amazing “Art of the Fugue” cycle, a laboratory of contrapuntal invention, in which Bach experimented with just how far combination can go – straight to the heart of mystery. Just how great Bach’s influence has been on subsequent generations of composers can be heard in Shostakovich’s piano quintet – a great work of chamber music that Konstantin Lifschitz and the Szymanowski Quartet are playing together for the first time.
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Monday 2 August 2010
A Day with Ysaÿe
CAROLIN WIDMANN (violin) MAURICE STEGER (recorder)
NAOKI KITAYA (harpsichord) KONSTANTIN LIFSCHITZ (piano)
Even the titles of these works speak a passionate language: “Obsession”, “Dance of the Shadows”, “Allegro furioso”. Eugène Ysaÿe, who opened a new era of virtuosity as a violinist and composer, created this language. The violinist Carolin Widmann shares his passion for music. She’s playing all six sonatas written by the emotional Ysaÿe, and they’ll be heard in dialogue with works from the Baroque and Romantic periods.
9.30 a.m. Hotel Waldfrieden
Everyman´s Choir
11 a.m. St. John´s Church in Hitzacker
Baroque Matinee • The Inebriation of Emotion
BACH: Sonata for violin and basso continuo in E minor BWV 1023
YSAŸE: Sonatas for solo violin No. 2 in A minor and No. 6 in E Major
HÄNDEL: Overture and Aria from „Rinaldo“ in the cembalo version
TELEMANN: Trio sonata for recorder, violin and harpsichord
3 p.m. St. John´s Church in Hitzacker
Solo Concert • The Eye of the Storm
YSAŸE: Sonatas for solo violin No. 1 in G minor and No. 5 in G Major
Works by GEMINIANI and CORELLI for recorder, harpsichord and basso continuo
8 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Chamber Music • Allegro furioso
YSAŸE: Sonatas for solo violin No. 4 in E minor and No. 3 in D minor
(dedicated to G. Enescu)
BACH: Four Duets for solo piano BWV 802 - 805
ENESCU: Sonata for violin and piano No. 3 in A minor
FRANCK: Sonata for violin and piano in A Major (dedicated to E. Ysaÿe)
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Tuesday 3 August 2010
Lab Orchestra
The “Lab Orchestra” project was awarded the Prize for Music Outreach of the Lower Saxony Savings and Loan Foundation and “Musikland Niedersachsen”.
HAMBURG SYMPHONY HENDRIK VESTMANN (conductor) MICHAEL KUBE, LUDOLF BAUCKE and KONSTANTIN LIFSCHITZ (comparative interpretations)
One whole day, one whole work – that is the “Lab Orchestra’s” formula. In Hitzacker, you have the opportunity to discover Schubert’s “Great C Major” symphony in the course of a whole day.
11 a.m. Meeting point: The Elbe Star dock on the Old City Island
A Walk with Schubert • The Path to the Symphony
During this two-hour walk along the Elbe with Schubert expert Dr. Michael Kobe, find out how Schubert re-invented the art of the hike and which paths he took to the “Great C Major” symphony.
2.30 p.m. Hotel Waldfrieden
Audience Academy Day I • The Path to Listening
Listen to comparative interpretations and discover how differently orchestras approach Schubert – and what experts think about the results. After that, take a seat in the Hamburg Symphony’s “walk-in orchestra”. Aside from the musical parts the Audience Academy Day I is mainly presented in German language. More information here
7 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Symphony Concert • The Path of the Wandering Souls
SCHUBERT: Symphony in C Major D 944 (“Great C Major”)
This evening is all about Schubert’s last symphony. The Hamburg Symphony will present excerpts for your examination. Then, at three different sites, you’ll listen to the symphony from three different perspectives: stringed instruments, brass and woodwinds. After the interval, the puzzle pieces will be put together for an inspired performance of the entire symphony by all the musicians – just for your “new ears”.
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Wednesday 4 August 2010
9.30 a.m. Hotel Waldfrieden
Everyman’s Choir
2 p.m. St. John´s Church in Hitzacker
Audience Academy Day II • The Caprice from Paganini to Piranesi
Aside from the musical parts the Audience Academy Day II is mainly presented in German language. More information here
8 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Chamber Music • Schumann’s Departure to the Unknown
SCHUMANN: Piano trio in D minor op. 63
SCHUMANN: Fairy Tale Pictures for piano and viola op. 113
SCHUMANN: Songs arranged for viola, cello and piano
BRAHMS: Piano quartet in C minor op. 60
NILS MÖNKEMEYER (Viola) BOULANGER TRIO
They were the ones who wrote the sound track of the age that set out for the boarders of the unknown: Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The violist Nils Mönkemeyer and the Boulanger Trio, playing together for the first time, honor this Romantic pair with a chamber music program ranging from the duet to the piano quartet. Nils Mönkemeyer, born in Bremen, Germany, set out for new territory himself in his first CD, “Ohne Worte (No Words)”, which included Lieder by Schubert and Schumann in instrumental arrangements. In the wake of his Bach recording, prizes at numerous competitions and his professorship at the Music University in Dresden, the German news magazine “Der Spiegel” wrote this about the 32-year-old Mönkemeyer: “Nobody gets famous playing the viola. But Nils Mönkemeyer plays it so well that even the violinists are envious”.
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Thursday 5 August 2010
9.30 a.m. Hotel Waldfrieden
Everyman’s Choir
2 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Audience Academy Day III • Key Visions
Aside from the musical parts the Audience Academy Day III is mainly presented in German language. More information here
8 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Piano Concert • Schubert’s Sanctum
SCHUMANN: Papillons op. 2
KURTÁG: Excerpts from Játékok
SCHUMANN: Ghost Variations
HOLLIGER: Elis, Three Night Pieces
SCHUMANN: Novelette No. 8 op. 21
SCHUBERT: Sonata No. 21 in B Major D 960
CÉDRIC PESCIA (piano)
“There’s Hélène Grimaud and Lang Lang. And then there’s Cédric Pescia, who follows a straight path, quite apart from the international hustle and bustle,” according to “Le Temps”, the Geneva daily newspaper. The 34-year-old Swiss pianist has won important competitions and honed his skills with Daniel Barenboim and Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, among others. Even more significant is the manner in which Cédric Pescia is expanding his repertoire, how he interprets the works – and the intuition with which he arranges his programs. In Hitzacker, he’s playing visionary works, each of which has its own place in the piano laboratory. This also applies to Schubert’s last piano sonata (D 960), a work more than 30 minutes in length. In Pescia’s hands it becomes an astonishingly modern work that weaves a tale of insecurity, crash landings, stallings and stumblings – and of expectations and hope. “Not only brilliantly well performed, but just as brilliantly thought out”. Discover this exceptional pianist in Hitzacker.
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Friday 6 August 2010
9.30 a.m. Hotel Waldfrieden
Everyman’s Choir
2 p.m. Kulturscheune Göhrde (The Culture Barn in Göhrde)
Audience Academy Day IV • Laboratory in the Antarctic – Laboratory Matthias Kaul
Aside from the musical parts the Audience Academy Day IV is mainly presented in German language. More information here
7 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Solo Concert • Beethoven’s Worlds
BEETHOVEN: Sonata in A flat Major op. 110
BEETHOVEN: Four Bagatelles op. 126
BEETHOVEN: Diabelli Variations op. 120
STEPHEN KOVACHEVICH (piano)
Stephen Kovachevich gave his first great piano performance at Wigmore Hall in 1961, playing Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. This concert laid the cornerstone of an international career. Today, thanks among other things to his recording of the composer’s entire piano repertoire, Kovachevich is one of the world’s most important interpreters of Beethoven’s work. In Hitzacker, he goes back to the roots.
10 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Night Concert • The Scent of Music
DEBUSSY: Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Sounds and Perfumes Mingling in the Evening Air)
SCHUMANN: Forest Scenes op. 82
SKRIABIN: Sonata No. 7 op. 64
KONSTANTIN LIFSCHITZ (piano)
It makes sense to say that music smells like something: Debussy speaks of perfume mingling in the evening air, Schumann refers to flowers and Scriabin, a synaesthetic of the first order, wrote about harmony’s scent. The perfumer Kim Weisswange has created a scent especially for this evening, to remind you of the music long after the 30-minute concert.
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Saturday 7 August 2010
10 a.m. Meeting Point: Parkhotel, Hotel Waldfrieden, Café Bertram (Old Town)
Festival Walk
Out of the concert hall, off to adventure – that’s the Hitzacker Festival Walk’s traditional motto. The 2010 composer in residence, Matthias Kaul, has composed a musical walk full of surprises: concerts on the levee and in a barn, music in a garden, sound installations and a stroll through a sculpture park at the country studio of the sculptors Müller-Klug. Follow the trail through the Elbe Valley Meadow to Damnatz and find out more about the biosphere reserve from Professor Hansjörg Küster. The excursion must be booked with bus transportation and includes a snack. Leaving at three points of departure in Hitzacker at 10 a.m., returning at 4 p.m. Families with children are especially welcome!
8 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Double Concert • Four Harmonicas and Twenty Throats
HUUTAJAT (Screaming Men Choir, Finland)
Interval with Garden Music by MATTHIAS KAUL
SVÄNG (Harmonica Quartet, Finland)
The Finnish harmonica quartet Sväng are true masters of the bass, chord and blues harmonicas. The four gentlemen swing along with their dry sense of humor and blend Nordic melancholy, American blues, beating Balkan rhythms, Swedish polkas and Samic joik into an altogether new sound. Huutajat also enjoys cult status. Founded in 1987, this choir of twenty men from Oulu in northern Finland are their region’s most unusual export item. Huutajat’s program includes national anthems, Schubert Lieder and children’s rhymes, but be careful! They aren’t sung, but screamed at full volume and with a good shot of humor. At the interval, Matthias Kaul invites you into his walk-in sound lab outside the concert hall.
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Sunday 8 August 2010
11 a.m. St. John´s Church in Hitzacker
Matinee • All Aboard! Fantasies!
MOZART: Fantasy for piano in D minor KV 397
C. P. E. BACH: Fantasy for piano in C Major Wq 95
BRAHMS: Fantasies for piano op. 116
SCHUMANN: Fantasy for piano C Major op. 17
alternating with
PURCELL: Fantasies for Viols
MATTHIAS KIRSCHNEREIT (piano) HAMBURGER RATSMUSIK
For many composers, the “fantasy” was a laboratory of experimentation off the beaten track of compositional norms. The pianist Matthias Kirschnereit has put together works of this genre from two centuries that will alternate in concert with works performed by a Renaissance ensemble – an exciting dialogue in space and time.
4 p.m. VERDO Concert Hall
Final Concert • Velvet and Soul
RIGMOR GUSTAFSSON (Songs) RADIO.STRING.QUARTET.VIENNA
The Swedish singer Rigmor Gustafsson, a star on the international jazz and pop scene, interprets songs by Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Burt Bacharach and her own compositions. The four musicians of the radio.string.quartet.vienna are exceptional proof that the string quartet can be re-invented and transformed into an elegantly swinging ensemble. In their first program together, the five artists perform jazz standards, film music, novelty pieces and Swedish folksongs. Gustafsson’s moving voice soars above it all. As her colleague the trombonist Nils Lundgren once put it, “her soul is embedded in her voice”.