Kreuzjoch Duo

2020 VISIONS from the Fischer Duo celebrates the piano-cello group's 50 years of performances together. The Duo is known for performing music from Brahms and Beethoven to the works of emerging composers.

Once again, the duo Gazzana juxtaposes the romantic repertoire with contemporary musical works on a new album.

Da sempre amiamo arricchire i programmi dei nostri concerti con musiche non originali per la nostra formazione cameristica. Le rielaborazioni di Miguel Llobet, di Leo Brouwer e del Duo Presti/Lagoya hanno rivestito un ruolo molto importante nella storia della chitarra, tanto da essere considerati dei veri e propri “classici” del repertorio per il duo chitarristico.

The title of this album, The Guitar and Fortepiano in the Age of Beethoven, frames the historical context of the musical itinerary it offers, but also helps us to notice a potential problem in our perspective. For us, the city of Vienna between eighteenth and nineteenth century was, musically speaking, the Vienna of Beethoven. Yet, if Beethoven’s music is now the most known and played of that time, it is by no means representative of the general musical culture of the era, at least in quantitative terms. Beethoven was the most distinguished, not the typical son of his days. His music was probably the greatest, but probably not the most common of those years. He pushed the boundaries of music to their extremes, opened up new ways for the Romantic generation, explored timbre, form, technique and tonality in a unique and extremely personal fashion, and left the mark of his style and personality over the following decades. However, precisely by virtue of its novel quality and extremely demanding technical and musical requirements, most of his music was beyond the reach of the average amateur, at a time when the European bourgeoisie was falling in love with domestic music-making.

David Salmon and Manuel Vieillard have chosen three major works composed the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, which, each in their own way, are the result of total creative freedom.

Leopoldine Blahetka was an Austrian composer of the 19th century. One of her most famous works is the "Grand Duo" for piano four hands. The piece is characterized by its passionate and virtuosic music, which requires both technical skills and musical sensitivity. The "Grand Duo" is an impressive example of Blahetka's compositional talent and her contribution to 19th century piano music.

The GZ piano duo is a New York-based duo comprising of Mexican pianist Citlalli Guevara and Bulgarian pianist Slavina Zhelezova. Hailed for their dynamic interpretations, powerful stage presence, and elegance, the GZPD combines the cultural heritages and temperaments of Latin America and Eastern Europe. The duo was launched in 2009 and has already established many “firsts” in Latin-America and Mexico including premieres of pieces and many first-of-a-kind concerts. The GZPD has appeared in recitals and soloist with orchestras on three continents including Mexico, USA, Belgium, France and Taiwan, for audiences ranging from an intimate setting to a televised concert for 3000 (Uruapan, Mexico) and is committed to delivering an exhilarating experience to audiences worldwide by bringing a vast repertoire and original programming.

The violin and cello duo cannot be considered as a musical rarity; yet it is also far from one of the most popular instrumental combinations in Western classical music. It is a challenging ensemble for both those composing for it and those venturing in the performance of its repertoire. It is a duo which invites counterpoint: the deep nature of both instruments and their vocation is to melodic singing, to the sustained lines which translate the human being’s aspiration to vocality into instrumental music. In consequence, to undertake a composition for violin and cello duo is also to implicitly accept the challenge of polyphony, and to affirm one’s mastery of its most intricate secrets.

Songs without words in the velvety smoothness of a splendid brass instrument: this is what we are offered here. Fabian Bloch (euphonium) and Muriel Zeiter (piano) take us on a journey through three centuries of masterpieces to which they lend a new voice.