On Friday, February 18, at the Liepaja Concert Hall “Lielais dzintars”, the world-famous chamber orchestra “Kremerata Baltica” delighted with a special 25th anniversary concert program, agreeing on the stage with the expressive Polish pianist Adam Kosmme for the first time. The musicians’ association offered listeners a variety of musical nuances, performing the work of the young Latvian composer Georg Pelet and Alfred Schnittke.
The first part of the concert, dedicated to the anniversary of the chamber orchestra, was opened with contemporary and quite meditative compositions. In the conversation of Jēkabs Jančevskis with the trees “Lignum”, a real fusion of the sounds of nature was heard in the sound of the rare whistles and the rustle of the wind created by the bends of string instruments. Kristaps Pētersons’ narration in the music “Music for a Great Ensemble”, performed by the Latvian musicians of the chamber orchestra “Kremerata Lettonica”, was transformed from a double bassist into a guitarist by the author of the composition.
The orchestra was given a new current by pianist Adam Cosmey, who dressed in black and white the gloomy and stormy characters of the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke in “Concerto for Piano and Strings”, highlighting the struggle between darkness and light and the eternal questions of human existence.
The meditative and dark tones created earlier were split in the second part of the concert by Georg Pelēčs’ compositions applied to the sun, marking the composer’s 75th anniversary. In the presence of the composer himself, the magic of flowers in the Peony Dance was performed by the chamber orchestra, but in the composition “Astor Piacola, Oscar Stroke and I (Buena Riga)” we experienced the virtuoso violinist Gerald Bidva (Gerald Bidva) solo, opening a meeting of Buenos Aires tango melodies with Latvian tango themes.
At the culmination of the program, Kremerata Baltica, together with Adam Cosmei, performed the dreamy and lively composition “Concertino Bianco” for piano and strings, followed by stormy applause from the audience and a repetition of Part III “Con anima”.
Photo gallery: https://failiem.lv/u/yttjv64x3 (author: Walter Pelns)
The chamber orchestra, founded in 1997 by the famous violinist Gidon Kremer and highly regarded by music lovers and critics Kremerata Baltica is considered one of the most capable international ensembles in Europe. The orchestra has performed in more than 50 countries around the world and its specially selected repertoire has been recorded on several CDs, which have received prestigious awards. Mikhail Weinberg’s record was nominated in 2015 Grammy Shostakovich’s piano concert, recorded in collaboration with Anna Binnitskaya, won in 2016 ECHO Classic Weinberg’s 2nd and 21st Symphony Records, in collaboration with the Birmingham City Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinyte-Tyl, won the award in 2020. Gramophone award.
SIA “Lielais Dzintars”
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