Programme

Widmann
180 Beats per Minute (1993)

Dvorák
Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, “Dumky”

Interval

Korngold
String Sextet in D major, Op. 10
 

A programme at the heart of this year’s festival, bringing together driving rhythmic intensity, folk-inspired reflection and richly lyrical chamber writing across the evening.

Jörg Widmann’s 180 Beats per Minute (1993) opens the concert with propulsive energy and razor-sharp intensity. Compressed, urgent and uncompromising, the piece makes its impact in just five exhilarating minutes.

Antonín Dvorák’s Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, “Dumky” follows. Structured as a series of contrasting episodes rather than a traditional four-movement form, the trio draws on Slavic folk idioms to create music that alternates between introspection and exuberance, melancholy and joy.

After the interval, Korngold’s String Sextet in D major, Op. 10 brings the evening to a radiant close. Written when the composer was just seventeen, the sextet is remarkable for its confidence, sweeping lyricism and rich harmonic language, combining youthful exuberance with a striking maturity of expression. It is a work that already points towards Korngold’s later successes on both the concert stage and the film screen.