The sonatas by Mozart, Janáček, Cervelló and Franck are part of Thursday's programme at the Chamber Hall

 

The Auditorio de Tenerife has programmed a concert by the duo Iturriagagoitia-Bagaría for Thursday [9-Feb] at 7:30 p.m. The violinist Aitzol Iturriagagoitia and the pianist Enrique Bagaría propose a concert at the Chamber Hall titled Elegancia, política, denuncia y epitalamio. A Jordi Cervelló in memoriam (Elegance, politics, denunciation and epithalamium. To Jordi Cervelló, in memoriam)

The programme will begin with a sonata by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) that was part of a group of them. This one was dedicated by the composer to a pianist shortly after he settled in Vienna. They were new in their genre as they demanded two performers of an extremely high level and showed the composer's clear desire to amaze the new audience of the city, squeezing the most out of his endless creativity packed with ideas. Mozart in his purest form: perfection, surprise and elegance.

More than a century later, Leoš Janácek (1854-1928) wrote one sonata for violin and piano, and it was the only one that he published for this group. This second piece of the concert is framed by the context of the First World War and the pro-Russian position of the Moravia region, which aimed to come under Russian control and get out of German rule. With a very intense and dramatic character, it cannot be said that this is not a political work.

The subtitle of the concert is a declaration – of love in this case – for the composer Jordi Cervelló, who passed away in September 2022 and a close friend of the duo Iturriagagoitia-Bagaría. The third piece of this programme is a sonata for violin and piano by Cervelló. This duo is a rich mixture of styles, a constant dialogue with a dialectic that ranges from the most passionate and dramatic to the most ethereal and sublime. It reminds Shostakovich and a denunciation faced with the excesses of the world. A fighter up until his death, Cervelló did not stop condemning everything that seemed unfair to him, plainly and without any shame. With this work, the duo offers a tribute to him.

To finish the concert, the sonata of César Franck (1822-1890) will be performed. It is one of the most inspired works of chamber music of the 18th century. The work was created as a wedding present for the great violin player Eugène Ysaÿe, hence the epithalamium, and it exudes romanticism, delicacy, love and harmony. It could be said that its style is the perfect blend of German form and French improvisation, a synthesis of the romantic spirit that had finally achieved perfection. The sonata has been transcribed for endless instruments and chamber groups. The four movements are very different to one another, like the entire programme, but they share some thematic elements that give overall unity to the work.

Thanks to their great artistic chemistry, Aitzol Iturriagagoitia and Enrique Bagaría have been working together in the Duo in 2019. Prior to that, both musicians had received several awards and recognitions. Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, they have already performed at the Auditorium of Zaragoza, the Panticosa Festival, the Palau de la Música of Barcelona, the Philharmonic Society of Bilbao, the

Theatre Arriaga, among others. Their first album, with sonatas by Debussy, Janáček and Strauss, obtained great international reviews.

Tickets can be purchased at a single price of €15 on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Check the special discounts for the audience under 30 years of age, students, unemployed and large families.