Star Duo: Andreas Brantelid and Christian Ihle Hadland

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Dronningensgade 1,
5000 Odense

Star Duo: Andreas Brantelid and Christian Ihle Hadland

Description

Programme: Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in C major, Op. 102 No. 1 Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in D major, Op. 102 No. 2 Franz Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D821 Two Nordic top musicians – the Dane Andreas Brantelid and the Norwegian Christian Ihle Hadland – opened the 2025 season in Kammermusik Odense, and they are closing the 2026 season! It happens extremely rarely that we re-engage the same ensemble in two consecutive seasons. There are three good reasons why we have done so this time. First, the artists had to change the programme at fairly short notice because of an important studio recording. That meant that we did not get to hear Schubert's beautiful 'Arpeggione Sonata' at the concert in January 2025. The second reason was that many in the audience on their way out expressed a strong wish to hear the two fantastic musicians again, and the third reason was that after the concert Andreas and Christian simply said that they would very much like to come again. We did not need to be told twice. We managed to arrange a date with the two busy musicians, and at this concert we will hear both the 'Arpeggione Sonata' and the remaining two late Beethoven sonatas. Performers Andreas Brantelid made his debut aged 14 as a soloist in Elgar's Cello Concerto with Det Kgl. Kapel. By the age of 20 he had already won first prizes at the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition and the International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki. Today he is an internationally acclaimed star. His CV includes an almost endless series of distinguished orchestras and conductors he has collaborated with in the world's finest concert halls, and as a chamber musician his achievements are no less impressive. From 1 September 2025 he has been employed as professor of cello at Det Kgl. Danske Musikkonservatorium. Andreas plays a 1707 'Boni-Hegar' Stradivarius kindly loaned by the Norwegian art collector Christen Sveaas. Christian Ihle Hadland is a worthy partner with a career just as impressive as Andreas'. He made his debut aged 15 with Det Norske Radiosymfoniorkester and won his first international fame as a BBC New Generation Artist in 2011. He has appeared as a soloist with a long list of prominent orchestras, and as a chamber musician he is in particularly high demand. Christian was admitted to Rogaland Musikkonservatoriet at the age of just 11, and he later studied with the renowned professor Jiri Hlinka, both privately and at Barratt Due Instituttet in Oslo. The programme: Schubert's 'Arpeggione Sonata' from 1824 is the main reason we still know that there is such a thing as "an arpeggione". The 6-string instrument was invented in 1823 and was almost comparable to a guitar played with a bow. Despite Schubert's lovely sonata, however, the arpeggione did not have a long life, as its technical and dynamic possibilities were far too limited. The quality of the sonata meant, however, that the work has survived in the best of health, mainly interpreted by cellists, but violists and several other instrumentalists also have an eye on the 'Arpeggione Sonata'. Beethoven wrote five cello sonatas and some sets of variations for cello and piano. The last two were written in 1815 and published two years later. One can with good reason regard them as the introduction to what is called Beethoven's late period. They are both markedly shorter and freer in form than the three earlier cello sonatas, and it is easy to read the composer's rapidly increasing deafness into the musical expression.