Marianna Shirinyan & Torleif Thedéen

Marianna Shirinyan is one of Denmark’s most beloved pianists, known for her vibrant and virtuosic playing. She performs worldwide as both a soloist and chamber musician. Together with Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen — another of the Nordic region’s most distinguished soloists — she has formed a true power duo. For this concert, they present an exceptionally engaging programme.

Dmitri Shostakovich is always a fascinating acquaintance, and here his music takes a new turn. His five piano preludes from 1919–21 are performed in a striking arrangement for piano and cello by composer Lera Auerbach (b. 1973).

The American composer Samuel Barber wrote his Sonata for Cello and Piano at the age of just 22, marking his major breakthrough. Echoes of Brahms can be heard in this powerful work, which earned Barber both a Pulitzer travel grant and a prize from the American Academy in Rome.

Edvard Grieg also wrote a Sonata for Cello and Piano, composed after a pause in his output due to illness and work pressures. The material draws on several of his earlier pieces, including a funeral march written in memory of Rikard Nordraak.

A completely different sonic world awaits the listener in the music of Toru Takemitsu. Widely regarded as the most significant Japanese composer of his generation, Takemitsu merged traditional Japanese music with Western avant-garde techniques. His exploration of tone colour is central, using unconventional playing techniques and microtonality — heard here in the cello part — to extraordinary effect.

Orion, his only work for cello and piano, is a reworking of an orchestral piece inspired by the symbolic significance of the three stars in Orion’s Belt.

Finally, the programme includes two early works for cello and piano by Anton Webern, composed in a distinctly Romantic idiom — from before his later turn to atonality.

PROGRAMME

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975): 5 Preludes (arranged by Lera Auerbach)

Samuel Barber (1910–1981): Cello Sonata

Anton Webern (1883–1945): Two Pieces for Cello and Piano

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Toru Takemitsu (1930–1996): Orion

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907): Cello Sonata