Südafrika in Deutschland

22. Juni 2017

Save the Date: SA Kristian Bezuidenhout to perform Bach / Froberger / Biber / Couperin at Musikfest Berlin

Kristian Bezuidenhout is one of todays most notable and exciting keyboard artists, equally at home on the fortepiano, harpsichord, and modern piano. Born in South Africa in 1979, he began his studies in Australia, completed them at the Eastman School of Music, and now lives in London.

Bezuidenhout is a regular guest with the world’s leading ensembles including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre des Champs Elysées, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BR Sinfonieorchester and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; and has guest-directed (from the keyboard) the English Concert, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Tafelmusik, Collegium Vocale, Juilliard 415 and the Kammerakademie Potsdam.

He has performed with celebrated artists including John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Frans Brüggen, Trevor Pinnock, Giovanni Antonini, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Isabelle Faust, Alina Ibragimova, Rachel Podger, Carolyn Sampson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Mark Padmore and Matthias Goerne.

Bezuidenhout’s rich and award-winning discography on Harmonia Mundi includes the complete keyboard music of Mozart (Diapason d’Or de L’année, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Caecilia Prize); Mozart Violin Sonatas with Petra Müllejans; Mendelssohn and Mozart Piano Concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester (ECHO Klassik); Beethoven, and Mozart Lieder, and Schumann “Dichterliebe” with Mark Padmore (Edison Award). In 2013 he was nominated as Gramophone Magazine’s Artist of the Year. Forthcoming releases include Volume 2 of Mozart Piano Concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester.

Venue: Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie
Date: Friday 1st September 2017, 19:00

Isabelle Faust, Kris Bezuidenhout
Violino e Cembalo

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH [1685-1750]
Sonata No. 4 for violin and harpsichord in C minor BWV 1017 [ca. 1725]

JOHANN JAKOB FROBERGER [1616-1667]
Suite for harpsichord in C major BWV 612a [1656]

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Sonata No. 5 for violin and harpsichord in F minor BWV 1018 [ca. 1725]

HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ BIBER [1644-1704]
Passacaglia for solo violin in G minor [1678]
from the Rosary Sonatas

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Sonata No. 2 for violin and harpsichord in A major BWV 1015 [ca. 1725]

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH [1685-1750]
Sonata No. 3 for violin and harpsichord in E major BWV 1016 [ca. 1725]

LOUIS COUPERIN [1626-1661]
Prélude and Passacaille in C major
from the Pièces de Clavecin No. 10 and No. 27

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Sonata No. 1 for violin and harpsichord in H minor BWV 1014 [ca. 1725]

HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ BIBER [1644-1704]
Sonata No. 5 for violin and harpsichord in e minor [1681]

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Sonata No. 6 for violin and harpsichord in G major BWV 1019 [ca. 1725]

ISABELLE FAUST violin
KRIS BEZUIDENHOUT harpsichord

In the generation before Bach, they were the masters of their instruments: the harpsichordists Johann Jakob Froberger and Louis Couperin, and the violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. Their imaginations and phenomenal technical skills were mutually inspiring. Froberger received his distinctive training in Italy, but gradually acquired French influences. His art of synthesis was an inspiration for Bach. Biber also modelled his legendary virtuosity on Italian standards, but far exceeded them. His Passacaglia in G minor, composed as an epilogue to the “Mystery Sonatas”, is the masterpiece of this type of composition prior to Bach’s famous Chaconne in D minor.

According to their compositional structure, Bach’s six sonatas are trio sonatas. The violin and the right hand of the harpsichordist concertize as upper voices, which are often interwoven or set in counterpoint against each other. The different keys represent the fundamentally disparate characters of the sonatas. The compilation of six works as a volume corresponded to a publication practice that was maintained for a long time. In Bach’s case, it also meant that a small compendium of the expressive possibilities, art of playing and the compositional diversity of the genre was passed on to contemporaries and recorded for posterity.

A Berliner Festspiele / Musikfest Berlin event

End of concert ca. 21:45
Work introduction 18:00

Copyright by SA Embassy 2021