Philharmonic Close-Up – Beethoven and Gubaidulina

When a composer chooses to call a piece a fantasy, one senses a desire to let the music flow freely and follow its own course. From the Baroque period, there are many remarkable examples of fantasias, such as these by Purcell, where chasing lines imitate and intertwine with one another.

A very different, more Classical elegance is found in Beethoven’s String Trio in G major. This is music in the footsteps of Haydn, full of momentum and sparkling melodies. It is clear that the audience is meant to be entertained – yet this is Beethoven, so there is also bite and a spirit of adventure.

Purcell and Beethoven frame Sofia Gubaidulina’s dense and expressively vibrating string trio. Gubaidulina, who passed away in 2025, is perhaps Russia’s most renowned contemporary composer. She was the focus of Konserthuset’s International Composer Festival in 2000, and two years later became the first woman to receive the Polar Music Prize: “Her expressive and deeply personal musical language has the power to speak to an ever-growing audience around the world.” In a much-quoted statement, she herself said that she “is the place where East and West meet.”