This time, the Swensen brothers, sons of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra’s previous Artistic Director Joseph Swensen, will perform with the orchestra. The cellist Jonathan Swensen will appear as soloist, while Nicholas Swensen will conduct. We are in for an evocative, varied programme featuring works by composers of the highest calibre: Luigi Boccherini, Pēteris Vasks, Kaija Saariaho, and Giovanni Sollima.
Luigi Boccherini, an accomplished cellist hailing from Lucca, Tuscany, was active primarily in the Enlightenment-era Spain. We know of more than a dozen concertos written by him for this instrument, some of which were published in Paris during Boccherini’s lifetime. Among them is the graceful Concerto in G major. This stylish piece is known primarily for its emotional, reflective middle movement. The second composition of this type, titled Klātbūtne (Latvian for “presence”), was created in contemporary times. In Vasks’s work, recorded by, among others. Sol Gabetta and in line with the trend of post-Romanticism, you can immerse yourself in a stream of primordial emotions. It was composed in 2011–2012 and can be considered a path back to your roots.
A Reflection of Water Lilies is an extraordinary composition by Finnish spectralist Kaija Saariaho. The string orchestra conjures up a handful of sound images with blurred, yet paradoxically carefully delineated, eerie contours. The last of these uses – merely as a sonic effect – Arseny Tarkovsky’s poem Summer Has Passed... The work by Saariaho, who passed away a few years ago, dates from 2001. The evening will conclude with a piece by the charismatic Sicilian cello virtuoso Giovanni Sollima. The concerto, mysteriously titled Fecit Neap. 17 (the number denoting the year of its completion), evokes the musical style characteristic of Naples in the High Baroque period. Yet it is a truly contemporary firework, a vehicle for the vivacious temperament for which southern Italy is renowned.