10 Jan 2015 19:30
Venue:
Martinskirsche
Basel, Switzerland
Presenter:
Cantate Basel
Les Noces”Les Noces” was one of the central works of Stravinsky’s life. It combined his feelings towards the Russia that he had left, and that had changed for ever, his religious beliefs, the musical discoveries that he had made as he travelled Europe, and not least his sense of humour. Initially he thought of arranging it for large orchestra and chorus, but he discarded this version in favour of a much more unusual orchestration. The full title of the work is actually “Svadebka” in Russian, “Les Noces Villageoises” in French, and is best translated as “The Village Wedding” in English. It is a wedding, not of the rich bourgeoisie, but of peasant folk, with all the excitement and mishaps that this entails.So in trying to represent this peasant quality in music, Stravinsky combined a pianola, played in a deliberately mechanical way, two Hungarian cimbaloms, a harmonium, and a great deal of percussion. These two Russian cimbalom players, found amidst the bustle of the Brussels flea market in March 2005, are the contemporary equivalent of Stravinsky’s peasants: a far cry from the tail-coated world of the orchestra pit. source: Rex Lawson rexlawson.com
Program
Brahms: Vocal Quartets (6), Op. 112
Artist: Reto Reichenbach (Piano)
Ensemble: Cantate Basel Kammerchor
Conductor: Tobias von Arb
Dvorak: Moravian Duets, Op. 32
Ensemble: Cantate Basel Kammerchor
Conductor: Tobias von Arb
Arranger: Leos Janacek
Bartók: Four Slovak Folksongs, Sz. 70
Ensemble: Cantate Basel Kammerchor
Conductor: Tobias von Arb
Stravinsky: Les noces (1919 version; Verbey completion)
Artist: Rex Lawson (Player Piano)
Ensemble: Cantate Basel Kammerchor
Conductor: Tobias von Arb
Arranger: Theo Verbey