The second concert release of the year is here: ‘Schubertiade i Logen"! We are looking forward to hearing Leonkoro Quartet, Nils Mortensen and Aksel Rykkvin in Gamle Logen for a festive evening dedicated to Schubert.
It’s truly a dream-like scenario: imagining Schubert arriving at a friend’s home, stepping into their living room with a bundle of freshly composed music, performed for the first time. Because that’s how it was – Schubert’s chamber compositions were played in living rooms, among friends. And these gatherings were so popular and special that they became known as Schubertiades.
We can’t quite recreate the intimacy of a small living room - after all, we want more than ten people to experience this concert! But the beautiful venue of Gamle Logen provides the perfect setting to transport us back to the early 1800s, where we can immerse ourselves in Schubert’s music. His rich, melodic, and joyful tones, often tinged with an underlying melancholy, fill this evening’s program.
The Piano Sonata No. 20 is one of three late sonatas Schubert composed in the final year of his life, 1828. Today, these works are considered among the finest he ever wrote: full of power, yet also lyrical and nearly desperate in character. One senses that Schubert was aware his time was coming to an end. We are very excited to hear the brilliant Nils Anders Mortensen interpret this deeply moving repertoire.
After the piano sonata, we will hear four songs performed by the young and exceptionally talented baritone Aksel Rykkvin, already a prize-winning interpreter of lieder. We are truly looking forward to hearing his renditions of Schubert’s songs, in collaboration with Mortensen.
The concert concludes with the iconic String Quartet No. 14: "Death and the Maiden." In this piece, Schubert draws upon the theme from his earlier song of the same name, in which Death comforts the young girl, assuring her she need not be afraid – he will gently cradle her in his arms. Performing this masterwork is the rising star ensemble, the Leonkoro Quartet, currently touring major concert stages around the world.
All in all, this promises to be a grand, iconic evening as we invite you to a Schubertiade. Don’t miss one of the core concerts of this year’s festival: an evening of profound, powerful music performed by extraordinary artists.
