In the second edition of the Church Marathon, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Second Piano Trio in E minor, Opus 67, will be performed in the Lutheran Church by Clara-Jumi Kang, Daniel Blendulf and Sunwook Kim. Shostakovich composed this piano trio in the spring of 1944, shortly after the sudden death of his best friend, Kang, Daniel Blendulf and Sunwook Kim. Shostakovich composed this piano trio in the spring of 1944, shortly after the sudden death of his best friend, the brilliant musicologist Ivan Sollertinski. The loss affected him deeply: Sollertinski was his intellectual mentor and a crucial source of inspiration. Just ten days after receiving the news of his death, Shostakovich began work on the trio, which would become an intense and personal musical memorial. The four-part work depicts a journey of mourning, resistance, sarcasm and resignation.
From the very first bars, a deeply sad mood prevails thanks to a poignant lament, first introduced by an extremely high cello part. After a furious scherzo and a heart-rendingly beautiful slow movement (which begins with eight solemn chords in the piano part that sound like an ostinato throughout the movement), the work ends with an almost exhilarating danse macabre, inspired by Jewish-sounding themes. A final tribute to his unforgettable friend Sollertinski — and possibly also in memory of the Jews murdered in the concentration camps.
For the programme in the Nicolaïkerk, Janine Jansen has invited a number of promising young musicians from the new generation, who will also be performing on other days during the festival. The Scandinavian ensemble Opus13 Quartet opens the concert with a contemporary composition for string quartet by Richard Dubugnon. This Swiss composer is no stranger to Utrecht, as in 2023 the festival featured the world premiere of Poème élégiaque, specially composed for Janine. Most of the notes in the Secular Suite are literally taken from nine different compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, for a wide variety of instrumentations. Dubugnon has only made a few minor adjustments here and there to make Bach’s works suitable for string quartet.
Kazakh violinist Ruslan Talas and South Korean cellist Jaemin Han conclude the programme with a contemporary composition by Sally Beamish. This successful British composer and violist, who recently wrote the acclaimed double concerto Distance for Janine Jansen and Martin Fröst, drew inspiration for Stone, Salt and Sky by the characteristic Scottish landscape of Orkney, where the duo Gaia premiered the work in 2021. In Beamish’s own words: ‘I have reflected the colours and open spaces of Orkney, as well as its music, and also referred to other musical styles, such as bluegrass and blues.’
The route of the Church Marathon ends in the Geertekerk, with a starring role for French clarinettist Olivier Patey. It was a close call, but the Clarinet Quintet in B minor was never composed. Johannes Brahms had already announced that he would stop composing when he became friends with Richard Mühlfeld, the principal clarinettist of the court orchestra in Meiningen. Fascinated by his playing, Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann: ‘No one here can play the clarinet more beautifully than Herr Mühlfeld […] he is the best player I know, […] the nightingale of the orchestra’. This exceptional musician persuaded Brahms to write a few more compositions for clarinet: the Clarinet Quintet, the Clarinet Trio, Opus 114 and the two Sonatas, Opus 120.
The melodious Clarinet Quintet has been popular with both musicians and audiences since its premiere in 1891. Even before it was printed, an alternative version was written with viola instead of clarinet, performed by the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim and approved by Brahms himself. The original version with clarinet has a melancholic and introspective character, strongly coloured by the warm, slightly lower timbre of the A clarinet and the key of B flat minor. Brahms alternates lyrical restraint with virtuoso, expressive passages, with the clarinet playing a connecting role.
