Mūzika sitaminstrumentiem un klavierēm. Auznieks_Bartoks_Krams

PERCUSSION AND TWO PIANOS. AUZNIEKS_ BARTÓK _CRUMB

Juris Āzers, percussion

Guntars Freibergs, percussion

Elīna Bērtiņa, piano

Agnese Egliņa, piano

Visitors of Cēsis Concert Hall are invited to a reunion with the energetic and virtuosic percussion duet of Juris Āzers and Guntars Freibergs. Their Texture of Groove programme, part of the Arena Festival in Cēsis, brought them a Grand Music Award nomination for outstanding ensemble work. 

The two percussionists have prepared a new concert programme; this time around, they are joined by two outstanding pianists ‒ Elīna Bērtiņa and Agnese Egliņa. 

The main part of the programme comprises two masterpieces by Béla Bartók and George Crumb, a testimony to the fact that percussion repertoire is a self-sufficient and significant part of professional music, equal to others in terms of virtuosity and musical sophistication.  

We will hear the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion ‒ one of the most vivid examples of his masterful skills at merging Hungarian folk rhythms with classical music. Next ‒ one of the greatest compositions by the American composer George Crumb, Music for a Summer Evening, a piece containing musical allusions to Bartók. It demonstrates some of the best features of the composer’s individual style: musical super-sophistication, a phenomenal talent for vivid musical themes and a wealth of cultural references.

The programme of the night will culminate with a new piece for percussion and two pianos by the promising young Latvian composer, winner of the 2017 Grand Music Award Krists Auznieks, The Fragrant Timepiece. The musical piece is centred around the idea of the ‘incense clock’, an object considered a simple incense holder by European scholars until as late as the mid-1900s: it turned out to be also a unique kind of instrument for measuring time. We will witness the actual composition by Auznieks transform into the eponymous fragrant timepiece: the symbol will be clearly visible from the outset and, as the sound incense burns, it will not disappear; through the process of slow smouldering, it will help the listeners form a more conscious relationship with time, released by this symbol like fragrance. A huge role will be played by the piano pedals, helping capture time and not release it into nothingness once the piano key has been set free ‒ and also by the percussion instruments whose sound lingers, transforming time into space.

Supported by State Culture Capital Foundation.

* Ticket to the concert is only valid with a Covid-19 vaccination or recovery certificate proving that the visitor has completed a full course of vaccination against Covid-19 or has recovered from Covid-19 in the last 6 months. To attend the event, a visitor must carry an ID, a personalised ticket and a valid certificate. Please make sure you arrive in a timely manner.

**An event not suited for preschool-age children.