The Rite of Memory

This programme is about melancholy and the echoes of bygone days. Schubert believed that music is always melancholic, regardless of what else it expresses or tells. His Fantasy for two pianists embodies this idea in an elusive twilight that resonates beneath the surface. Through patterns of sober repetition, Arvo Pärt’s music consistently pursues an essence, the enduring values of a bygone world, which all of his music reflects.

Like Pärt, top violinist Gidon Kremer is rooted in the Baltic culture with its wealth of music and spirituality. Especially for his friend and promoter Kremer, Pärt made a version for violin and piano of Fratres, his widely beloved work. Kremer is also a major advocate for the – seldom performed – music of Mieczysław Weinberg, a friend, contemporary, and musical soulmate of Shostakovich.