12th Chamber Music Festival Chania

12th Chamber Music Festival Chania

«East & West Wind»

26 August - 4 September 2024

In Europe, the division between West and East is not purely geographical; it is also-and primarily-cultural. In terms of music, the serious musical tradition of Central Europe (and of the German lands, in particular) between the 18th and 20th centuries clearly emphasizes expressive coherence and density, morphological architecture and harmonic clarity. In contrast, the East was gradually discovering a 'voice' of its own which focused more on striking a balance between a living folk tradition and its admiration of Western achievements, between the surfeit of passion at the core of the Slavic soul and the disarming "coldness" that often describes its surface. It is these contrasting aesthetic tendencies, this dissonant coexistence, that sets the tone for the European musical pluralism which the 12th Chamber Music Festival Chania seeks to spotlight. Each of its six concerts will juxtapose works from the German Classical and Romantic tradition with works from Russia, Armenia, Poland and the Czech Republic, all of them written in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Information: www.chambermusicfestival.gr

UNDER THE AUSPICES AND SUPPORT OF:
Ministry of Culture
Greek National Tourism Organisation

WITH THE SUPPORT OF:
Region of Crete
Municipality of Chania
Municipality of Platanias

GRAND SPONSOR:
EMresorts

SPONSORS:
Alpha Bank
Blue Note Athens

TRANSPORTATION SPONSOR:
ANEK

CONCERTS PROGRAM

Monday, August 26th 2024 - CONCERT 1
Minoa Palace Resort - Conference Hall

Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, op. 63

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919 - 1996)
Piano Trio in A minor, op. 24

Trio Zimbalist:
Josef Špaček, violin
Timotheos Gavriilidis - Petrin, violoncello
George Xiaoyuan Fu, piano

Composers struggle with their demons. And through this struggle they find (maybe temporarily) redemption, but they also give birth to music that overwhelms us as testimonies of their soul, as testimonies of an inner fight that has no limits. Thus, there is no limit to the passion of Schumann's music, the mania of his insistence on rhythms and melodic shapes, but also his otherworldly imagination that seems to rise beyond space and time at certain moments. Weinberg, on the other hand, is a "prisoner" of his space and time, a "prisoner" of the suffering he and all of mankind suffered in the throes of World War II. And his music springs from the need to awaken consciousness and musically say a resounding "never again"..

Wednesday, August 28th 2024 - CONCERT 2
Minoa Palace Resort - Conference Hall

Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)
Fairy Tale Pictures (Märchenbilder)op. 113, for viola and piano

Milena Simović, viola
George Xiaoyuan Fu, piano

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975)
Concertino for two pianos, op. 94

Titos Gouvelis, piano
George Xiaoyuan Fu, piano

Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Three parts from "Petrushka"

Vassilis Varvaresos, piano

Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904)
Piano trio No.4 in E minos, op.90 "Dumky"

Roman Simović, violin
Timotheos Gavriilidis - Petrin, violoncello
George Xiaoyuan Fu, piano

Fairy tales, as distillation of popular wisdom, have something universal and all-embracing, no matter where they come from. The works of this concert therefore narrate to us myths with their own -musical- way. Dvořák unravels myths from Slavic epic ballads, which alternate between mourning and joy, Stravinsky recounts the adventures of Petrushka, a puppet who comes to life and falls in love, while Shostakovich with the Concertino (which he wrote to play with his son) recounts innocent children's tales. On the other hand, the German Robert Schumann deliberately does not reveal the sources of his inspiration but, through his pure romantic writing, leaves our imagination free to be transported to forgotten eras and worlds, heroic battles and pure loves with princesses and princes...

Friday, August 30th 2024 - CONCERT 3
Minoa Palace Resort - Conference Hall

Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)
Quintet in G minor, op. 39 for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass

Makrina Troullou, oboe
Panagiotis Giannakas, clarinetRoman Simović, violin
Milena Simović, viola
Konstantinos Sifakis, double bass

Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)
Sonata for two violins in C major, op. 56

Josef Špaček, violin
Roman Simović, violin

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, op. 80

Roman Simović, violin
Josef Špaček, violin
Milena Simović, viola
Angelos Liakakis, violoncello

Sergei Prokofiev, living and working for several years in Paris, "absorbed" the Parisian musical avant-garde, refining it through the genuine Russian origins of his musical personality. His two works presented in this concert, fruits of that particular period of his life, indeed highlight the wide range of his inspiration and his complex musical language, which balances the lyrical with the grotesque. Next to them stands one of the most moving quartets of the Romanticism, Mendelssohn's sixth, which although a lament for the death of his sister, overcomes unnecessary sentimentality and focuses on sober, brilliant expressiveness.

Saturday, August 31st 2024 - CONCERT 4
Minoa Palace Resort - Conference Hall

Aram Khachaturian (1903 - 1978)
Trio for violin, clarinet and piano

Josef Špaček, violin
Panagiotis Giannakas, clarinet
Vassilis Varvaresos, piano

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Octet in F major, D. 803 for clarinet, bassoon, French horn,
two violins, viola, violoncello and double bass

Panagiotis Giannakas, clarinet
Rui Lopes, bassoon
Angelos Sioras, French horn
George Demertzis, violin
Noé Inui, violin
Ioannis Mageiropoulos, viola
Angelos Liakakis, violoncello
Konstantinos Sifakis, double bass

A century or so (1824-1932) separates the two works of this concert. But they are united by the desire of the two composers to penetrate the music of their time and place and especially its lighter and more entertaining side, imbuing it with the seriousness of their art full of finesse and intelligence. Schubert in 19th-century Vienna follows with his Octet the exemplar of Beethoven's masterful Septet, while Khachaturian, still a student at the Moscow Conservatory, is fully aware of the beauty and truth he can derive from the style of the traditional music of Armenia and based on it he composes his lively Trio for an unusual -at the time- combination of instruments.

Sunday, September 1st 2024 - CONCERT 5
Minoa Palace Resort - Conference Hall

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
Variations on a theme by Haydn for two pianos, op. 56b

Witold Lutosławski (1913 - 1994)
Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two pianos

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943)
Suite No. 1 in G minor, op. 5, "Fantaisie-tableaux"

Vassilis Varvaresos, piano
Titos Gouvelis, piano

The piano, as a truly polyphonic instrument, is inextricably linked to a rich, symphonic sound, but also to the intense virtuoso brilliance that so often dominates his repertoire. When in fact two pianos are called to co-exist and accompany each other and additionally in the service of great musical ideas, the sound effect cannot be anything less than cataclysmic and sweeping. Brahms aimed for this exact feeling with his majestic Variations, Rachmaninoff with his sensual, intensely erotic First Suite and also the leading Polish composer of the 20th century, Witold Lutoslawski with his variations on a theme by Paganini, which are one of the most popular works for two pianos of all time.

Tuesday September 3rd & Wednesday September 4th 2024 - CONCERT 6 & 7
Ancient Theater of Aptera

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Septet in E-flat major, op. 20, for clarinet, bassoon, French horn,
violin, viola, cello and double bass

Panagiotis Giannakas, clarinet
Rui Lopes, bassoon
Angelos Sioras, French horn
Noé Inui, violin
Antonis Tzivenis, viola
Angelos Liakakis, violoncello
Konstantinos Sifakis, double bass

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
String Sextet in D minor, op. 70 "Souvenir de Florence"

Noé Inui, violin
Ioannis Mageiropoulos, violin
George Demertzis, viola
Antonis Tzivenis, viola
Angelos Liakakis, violoncello
Timotheos Gavriilidis - Petrin, violoncello

Beethoven's Septet, although a relatively early work and still far from the intense passions and robust drama that so strongly characterize his later works, was one of his most popular works during his lifetime – and remains so today, thanks to the freshness of its themes and the liveliness of the «plot» among its performers. Something similar is also true for Tchaikovsky's Sextet, only in this case the composer, at the end of his life, searches for his lost innocence in the immortal Italian melodiousness while simultaneously diving into the turbulent depths of his passionate Russian soul.

THE CONCERT IS PART OF ΤΗΕ CRETE FESTIVAL
CO-PRODUCTION WITH THE REGION OF CRETE
AND THE EPHORATE OF ANTIQUITIES OF HERAKLION

Free entry with online reservation
(Online reservations will start at 20/08 12:00)