Chamber music

Daniela Bonfiglioli of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s first violin section performs with pianist Terés Löf, a regular guest at Konserthuset. We hear British-American Rebecca Clarke’s (1886–1979) atmospheric and passionate work for violin and piano: powerful, yet lyrical music with vast string chords and elegant piano accompaniment.

The melodies are beautiful throughout Beethoven’s so-called Spring Sonata. Beethoven composed most of his sonatas for violin and piano within a span of five years, around the turn of the century to the year 1800. The first few follow in the footsteps of Haydn and Mozart, but in the fourth and fifth sonatas, a change occurs: he takes a brand new approach and uses the expressive registers of the piano and violin to the maximum. The fifth, which we hear at this concert, is the best known.

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Menu: Green pea soup with dill and cream. The soup comes with sourdough bread, crisp bread and whipped butter, as well as a beverage, coffee/tea and a small biscuit. All soups are lactose- and gluten-free. Notify us of any special dietary requests when making your booking.

We welcome the return of French string quartet Quatuor Diotima, who have performed at Konserthuset on several occasions and often alternate new compositions with classics. Now, just a few weeks after the Composer Weekend featuring Swedish Lisa Streich, we hear Streich’s string quartet, the world premiere of which Quatuor Diotima just gave in Strasbourg. Lisa Streich has described Sternenstill (“Star Clear”) as choreography for the musicians’ arms. 

We move from choregraphed to nearly operatic. In addition to its external sophistication, the lyrical suite from 1926 proved later to contain many personal secrets – an entire story, in fact. In the notes A-B-H-F, Alban Berg expresses his love for Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. She was married, as was he, and in this music they are united through their initials.

First, Quatuor Diotima presents the early Quartet in D-Major by Schubert. It was composed in 1813; he was 16 years old and studying with Antonio Salieri. The music is dedicated to his father on his “name day” and its first performance was likely at home, with his father and older brothers, and Schubert himself on viola.

With fervent playing and exceptional technique, Peter Friis Johansson has become established as one of Scandinavia’s most prominent concert pianists. 

He is deeply interested in contemporary music and here, he tackles John Cage’s pioneering Sonatas and Interludes, inspired by Indian philosophy. This incredibly evocative music consists of twenty short pieces, in which the piano is prepared with screws, nuts, erasers, and pieces of plastic stuffed between the strings to alter the sound. 

First, we hear Gävle-born composer Bo Linde’s Six Character Pieces, written around 1952–53, when Linde had just finished studying composition with Lars-Erik Larsson. And unlike today’s modernistic trend, this music is infused with melodic lightness and elegance. American Henry Cowell’s (1897–1965) lush Three Irish Legends has an entirely different quality. To create these massive sounds – usually with an Impressionistic bent – the soloist must occasionally use their forearms.

Mel Bonis’ Piano Quartet No. 2 is warm and sincere, passionate and dense – and charged with melodic beauty. And it is our good fortune now to get to hear this music. Like many female composers of the nineteenth century, she had trouble getting her work performed. But many of her male colleagues saw her gift and César Franck arranged for her to have a position at the Paris Conservatory, which was otherwise only attended by men at that time. 

This concert is performed by philharmonic members Anna Stefánsson on violin, Nadine Jurdzinski on viola and Hanna Dahlkvist on cello, together with pianist Darya Tchaikovsky.

Richard Strauss composed his Piano Quartet in C-Minor when he was 20 years old and this music is strongly influenced by Johannes Brahms. Despite being performed by a small ensemble, we hear Strauss’ musical personality shine through, with sharp contrasts and powerfully built-up sound.