Soup Concert

Germaine Tailleferre had to fight hard for her musical education in Paris in the early twentieth century. Her father did not think she should dedicate herself to music, but she had incredible willpower and talent that he did not anticipate. She received several distinctions already during her studies, and was the only woman in the artistic group known as Les Six (”the six”, which also included Francis Poulenc and Arthur Honegger). She wrote most of her more significant works in the 1920s, including the Adagio for Violin and Piano from 1924. When World War II broke out, she moved to the US and spent the war years in Philadelphia, where she composed Pastorale for Violin and Piano, among other pieces.

It is perhaps unsurprising that Edvard Grieg’s second sonata for violin and piano conveys a tone of happiness and joy, given that he composed the piece on his honeymoon. His practice of painting classical music with folk music strokes was ground-breaking, and characteristic of his work. He offers a taste of just that in this piece, which premiered in 1867.

Prodigy Lili Boulanger (1893–1918) and her sister Nadia were the focus of Konserthuset’s Composer Festival in 2015, at which several of both sisters’ pieces were performed in Sweden for the first time. In Nocturne, which was composed in a matter of days in October 1911, we hear how the violin sadly sings with the dripping piano notes in fractured chords. Several shorter pieces were composed in the summer of 1914, including Cortège, a bright and playful piece of music.

Violinist Lola Torrente has been a member of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015. She will be joined on stage by French pianist Sarah Margaine.

Menu: Red lentil soup with potatoes and thyme, served with chorizo and sour cream.