Soup Concert with viola and piano

Jennifer Higdon (born 1962) is among the most acclaimed American composers today, and has won a Pulitzer Prize and multiple Grammy Awards. Her music has been performed on several occasions at Konserthuset. Higdon has explained that she has leaned towards the tradition of the sonata for viola and piano, for example Paul Hindemith, who composed a great deal for his instrument, the viola, but also works she played herself (on flute) by Stravinsky and her fellow American, Copland.  

Dichterliebe is a celebrated song cycle by Robert Schumann, but the music is performed here in an arrangement for viola and piano. The viola, with its rich and expressive colours, replaces the human voice in the song. Listeners who are familiar with Dichterliebe may still be able to hear Heinrich Heine’s words through the notes: Im wunderschönen Monat Mai … 

We hear Nadine Jurdzinski from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s viola section perform here with renowned pianist Love Derwinger, who has appeared worldwide and alternates soloist performances with chamber music.