Search: Music - Edinburgh Festival Guide

Olga JegunovaLMN Scotland/UK The Latvian-born pianist plays Schubert, Mozart and Rachmaninov with music by composers from her homeland, Peteris Vasks and Rihards Dubra Tuesday 27 August 9.00pm Supported byIan Stoutzker Tickets £10 1 hour approximately eif.co.uk/cafeconcerts

Hannah StoneLMN Wales/UK The Royal harpist plays Bach, Dizi, Prokofiev and Salzedo. Wednesday 14 August 9.00pm Supported byIan Stoutzker Tickets £10 1 hour approximately eif.co.uk/cafeconcerts

Jacquin TrioLMN London/UK Works by Kurtág, Huw Watkins and Bruch alongside Mozart’s Kegelstatt performed by JessieGrimes (clarinet), Zoë Matthews (viola) and Charis Cheung (piano) Monday 26 August 9.30pm Supported byIan Stoutzker Tickets £10 1 hour approximately eif.co.uk/cafeconcerts

Duo ServaisLMN Munich/Germany Duos by Mozart, Paganini, Giesriegl and Servais performed by Amelie Böckheler (violin) andRaphaela Gromes (cello). Thursday 15 August 9.00pm Supported byIan Stoutzker Tickets £10 1 hour approximately eif.co.uk/cafeconcerts

Tonhalle Orchestra
Brahms Requiem
David Zinman        Conductor
Rachel Harnisch    SopranoFlorian Bösch         Baritone
Edinburgh Festival ChorusChristopher Bell    Chorus Master
Brahms  Ein deutsches Requiem
David Zinman concludes his Festival concerts at the helm of the Tonhalle Orchestra with one of Brahms’s most magnificent creations: the German Requiem.
A profoundly humanistic work that offers a vision of comfort and hope rather than grief and anger, its superbly crafted music and soaring vocal melodies encompass drama, serenity and intense expressivity.
Joining the Edinburgh Festival Chorus for this visionary piece are the celebrated Swiss soprano Rachel Harnisch, noted for her powerful yet intimate performances, and Austrian baritone Florian Bösch, whoseintense interpretations have earnt him worldwide acclaim.
Monday 26 August 8.00pmUsher Hall
Tickets£42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
1 hour 30 minutes approximately

Tonhalle Orchestra Brahms Violin Concerto David Zinman                         ConductorFrank Peter Zimmermann  Violin Brahms                                    Violin ConcertoBruckner                                 Symphony No 3 The rich, Romantic music of Brahms is the focus for the Tonhalle Orchestra’s two Festival concerts under its artistic director David Zinman. Widely considered one of the world’s finest violinists, German Frank Peter Zimmermann is the soloist in Brahms’s beautifully melodic Violin Concerto. He brings his commanding yet spontaneous playing to bear on the warm, lilting tunes and violinistic fireworks of the challenging solo part. Respected for his depth of feeling and the fresh perspectives he brings to familiar music, Zinman ends the concert with Bruckner’s heroic Third Symphony, a majestic piece of nobility and affirmation in which the composer pays homage to his idol, Richard Wagner. ‘Zinman and his orchestra phrase so intelligently – really breathing with the music’ International Record Review Saturday 24 August 8.00pmUsher Hall Tickets£42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12 2 hours approximately eif.co.uk/brahmsviolin

Bernarda Fink Mezzo sopranoAnthony Spiri Piano Songs by Schumann, Mahler, Debussy and Falla Eloquence and elegance characterise Argentinian-born mezzo soprano Bernarda Fink’s raptuorously received recitals. Acclaimed both for her golden-toned voice and for her subtle characterisations, Fink offers vivid, deeply expressive song performances. With her regular recital partner, US-born pianist Anthony Spiri, she traces a journey from the sombre, emotionally complex Lenau-Lieder of Schumann through to the joyful, folk-inspired Seven PopularSpanish Songs by Manuel de Falla. In between, she contrasts vivid settings from Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Mahler with Debussy’s evocative Trois mélodies, dreamy settings of poems by Paul Verlaine. ‘Fink’s mezzo tone is like velvet’ The Herald, Festival 2009 This concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Tuesday 13 August 11.00amThe Queen’s Hall Tickets£29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8 1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/fink-spiri

Beethoven Prometheus Scottish Chamber Orchestra René Jacobs   Conductor Haydn               Symphony No 104 ‘London’Beethoven      The Creatures of Prometheus Celebrated Belgian early-music conductor René Jacobs rejects the academic coolness of some period performance in favour of bright colours, dramatic energy and a sometimes unconventional approach. While remaining faithful to his music’s historical roots, Jacobs emphasises emotion and meaning, finding fresh perspectives on well-known pieces – an ideal match for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s respected reputation in this repertoire. Together they perform the last of Haydn’s ‘London’ symphonies, a work of splendour and grandeur whose final movement evokes the cries from the capital’s street hawkers that the composer found so memorable. Beethoven based his ballet score The Creatures of Prometheus on the Greek fire-stealing myth, and its story is conveyed in bold music full of drama and verve. Sunday 25 August 7.30pmUsher Hall Tickets£42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12 2 hours approximately eif.co.uk/prometheus

Arditti Quartet
Janácek      String Quartet No 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’Xenakis        I khoor                      TetrasNancarrow  String Quartet No 1                      String Quartet No 3                      Player Piano Study No 31 (arr. Paul Usher)                      Player Piano Study No 33 (arr. Paul Usher)
Widely celebrated as one of the world’s preeminent contemporary music ensembles, the Arditti Quartet is famed for its spellbinding performances that combine authority and passion.
Yet its players are also respected for their perceptive readings of classic repertoire, including Janácek’s First String Quartet, whose dazzling colours and soaring melodies were inspired by Tolstoy and.Beethoven.
Xenakis’s Ikhoor and Tetras are riotous celebrations of sound, forged from the complexities of advanced mathematics, but expressed in music of raw, wild emotion. And four pieces by US maverick Conlon Nancarrow create an appealing sense of fun with their jazzy, intricate.rhythms.
‘always impress with their vibrant and committed performances’ The.Scotsman, Festival 2011
This concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Tuesday 27 August 11.00amThe Queen’s Hall
Tickets£29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/arditti2
Supported bySusie Thomson

Andreas Haefliger Piano Schubert                  Piano Sonata in G D894Beethoven               Piano Sonata in B flat Op106 ‘Hammerklavier’ Two titans of the piano repertoire are performed by the formidable Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger, whose combination of luxuriant richness and steely control in his impeccable playing have earnt himworldwide acclaim. Although his earlier works had been conceived for the wooden fortepiano, Beethoven needed the modern, metal-framed pianoforte to unleash his ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata on the world, and he pushes the instrument to its limits in the Sonata’s hugely powerful, dramatic music. Before the interval, and in complete contrast, Schubert’s G major Sonata is a study in serenity, peace and luminosity, the ideal setting for Haefliger’s poetic insights. ‘at the peak of his powers… masterly’ The Sunday Times Saturday 17 August 11.00amThe Queen’s Hall Tickets£29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8 1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/haefliger Supported byClaire and Mark Urquhart