CPH Chamber Music Festival – Following last year’s debut and success, the Copenhagen Chamber Music Festival is ready to become an established annual event, once again presenting an ambitious programme and an impressive line-up of musicians.
The aim of the festival is, according to the initiators and organisers, the piano trio, Trio con Brio (Jens Elvekjær, Soo-Kyung Hong and Soo-Jin Hong), to enlighten the audience about the multi-faceted nature of chamber music, and there are free master classes at the Royal Academy of Music as well as an introduction to chamber music by Valdemar Lønsted, a journalist, writer and lecturer.
The programme is also intended to highlight the development of chamber music and the different interpretations of chamber music that the composers have graced us with.
With renowned international names such as the German piano quartet, Fauré Quartet, the Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid, the Russian violist Tatjana Masurenko, the Finish clarinettist Olli Leppäniemi and the Canadian/Japanese violinist Karen Gomyo on board, there’s plenty here to excite classical fans.
Venues include: Konservatoriets Koncertsal, Den Sorte Diamant, Mogens Dahl Koncertsal & Rundetaarn; starts Wed, ends Sep 30; concert tickets between 95-170kr, lectures are free; www.billetlugen.dk; www.ccmf.dk
Top Picks:
The Three Bs – No not Bach, but Beethoven, Bruch and Brahms. String Trio in G-major, op. 9/1, an early piece by Beethoven, has confidence and a sort of playful sound to it. This is followed by excerpts of a more experimental yet beautiful nature from Bruch’s Acht Stücke for the clarinet, viola and piano, op. 83. Brahms’s Piano Quintet in f-minor, op. 34 closes the concert on a more solemn yet dramatic note. This is the safe but by no means boring choice of the festival.
Mogens Dahl Koncertsal, Snorresgade 22, Cph S: Thu (Sep 27) 20:00
Under the Sky – This concert promises stargazing and quiet thoughtful music. The Fauré Quartet will delight us with Brahms’s 3rd mov. Andante from Piano Quartet in c-minor and the peaceful Andante Cantabile by Tchaikovsky. So invite your date for some late evening stargazing and accessible chamber music at the Roundtower.
Rundetaarn, Købmagergade 52A, Cph K; 28 Sep, 22:00
Also recommended:
The End of Time – The title of this concert might seem a bit on the gloomy side, and that’s a fair assumption: both masterpieces on the evening’s programme were written in 1940, during the Second World War, by Shostakovich and Messiaen. Attend this concert because like all great music, this allows you to get a real sense of the period the music was written in, and all the hardship and confusion at that time.
Den Sorte Diamant, Søren Kierkegaards Plads 1, Cph K; 28 Sep, 17:00
Opening Concert – This concert offers two Russian heavyweights, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, and French Fauré’s well-known Piano Quartet in c-minor. Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence for a string sextet is a guaranteed pleasure to listen to and Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat for a clarinet, violin and piano – though unmistakably Stravinsky – is actually rather accessible and fun to listen to.
Konservatoriets Koncertsal, Julius Thomsensgade 1, Frederiksberg; Wed 19:30
