Johannes Brahms - Carl Nielsen/Karl Aage Rasmussen m.m.

Address

Vedbæk Stationsvej 20,
Vedbæk

Johannes Brahms - Carl Nielsen/Karl Aage Rasmussen m.m.

Description

PROGRAM: Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Trio Carl Nielsen/Karl Aage Rasmussen: Carls MaskerSunleif Rasmussen: Partita Did you know that the Faroese musical tradition is believed to date back to the Vikings? Before the concert, festival composer Sunleif Rasmussen will talk about how music in the small North Atlantic community has evolved from monophonic singing without instruments to a rich musical life with both classical composers and pop stars. Afterward, you can experience his “Partita,” which is a modern take on the old Baroque form, known from composers like Bach. Brahms is featured alongside a couple of solid late Danish names in this concert, including Nielsen, whom he actually met. In 1868, Brahms was on a concert tour in Copenhagen and caused a stir at a dinner party by stating that “if the Thorvaldsen Museum came to Berlin, it would be the end of Denmark.” Only a few years after Denmark’s defeat in 1864, this was taken very badly. Twenty-six years later, the 30-year-old Carl Nielsen visited Brahms, who apparently hadn’t forgotten the commotion he had caused. He asked Nielsen how the Thorvaldsen Museum was doing, and the young man responded quickly: “Well, it’s still there, Doctor!” No matter how gruff Brahms was, his music contains great tenderness, love, and melancholy. The Clarinet Trio from 1891 was composed after a writing crisis during which he had actually decided to stop composing and had informed his publisher. But a meeting with clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld rekindled his inspiration. From 1904-1906, Carl Nielsen composed the opera “Maskarade,” a classic comedy of errors where love triumphs in the end. Karl Aage Rasmussen has created the potpourri “Carls Masker” with some of the most popular themes from the opera. On stage are the Rudersdal Chamber Soloists, performing here as a piano trio with clarinet. They have collaborated with several of today’s leading composers, and in 2022 released their first CD, which received international acclaim, including a top rating of 5 stars in BBC Music Magazine.