Day 10 - Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival 2010

.

The sun is back.

Vladimir Mendelssohn
Artistic Director

Vladimir Mendelssohn, the son of a Romanian family of musicians, studied the viola and 

composition at the Music Academy in his hometown, Bucharest. He has appeared throughout the 

world as a soloist, chamber musician, composer and arranger, and is in great demand at countless 

international festivals, performing with the world’s finest musicians.

Mendelssohn’s engagements have taken him to the United States, almost every country in Europe 

and to Russia, Israel, Tunisia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and South America. He has 

performed in renowned halls such as Carnegie Hall New York, Théâtre des Champs Elysées and 

Salle Gaveau in Paris, Berlin Philharmonie, Herculessaal Munich, Wigmore Hall London, 

Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, Moscow Conservatory, Tonhalle Zurich, and 

Philharmonie Bucharest.

He is a regular guest at festivals such as the Casals Festival in Prades, Kyushu Chamber Music 

Festival and Lockenhaus, and has made numerous recordings for established labels.

A prolific composer, he has produced works for solo instruments, mixed choir, symphony and 

chamber orchestra. His chamber works include four string quartets, “Nova” for clarinet, string trio, 

piano and percussion, and “Don Aldebarran” for seven stringed instruments, piano and actor.

He has also composed music for ballet, stage and screen.

A sought-after teacher, Mendelssohn is Professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire 

National Supérieur de Musique and also teaches in The Hague, Essen and Bologna. Moreover, he 

gives masterclasses the world over.

Vladimir Mendelssohn has been artistic director of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland 

since 2005.

(gaia-festival.com)

James Wilson, Cellist

James Wilson has become well-known as a skilled player of both the modern and baroque cello. His repertoire 

extend from Gabrieli to contemporary works written specifically for him. He has performed chamber music and 

given recitals at Carnegie Hall in New York, at Vienna's Musikverein, at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall and at the 

Kennedy Center. An acclaimed chamber musician, he has been a guest at several festivals, including New York's 

Mostly Mozart event and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. James Wilson has played in the Shanghai and 

Chester Quartets and made several recordings with both ensembles. He teaches cello and chamber music at New 

Yorks' Columbia University.

Pekka Kuusisto and Iiro Rantala by the lake.

TUESDAY 20.7.

Lines in the Sand

39 11.00 Kuhmo Church €14.50/10.50

Bach Roots

Dietrich Buxtehude (1637–1707):

Chaconne in D minor 

Pedrini

J.S. Bach (1685–1750):

Suite No. 6 in D, BWV 1012 for Solo Cello 

Helmerson

Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706):

Canon and Gigue in D, T. 337 for three Violins and Basso Continuo 

Heikinheimo, Mitchell, V. Szigeti, Wilson, Schmidt

J.S. Bach:

Concerto in D minor, BWV 1060 for Oboe and Violin

Mitchell, Gleisner, Hughes, Petitdemange, Meszaros, Wilson, Lindroos, Schmidt

40 13.30 Kontio School €14.50/10.50

Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806):

String Quintet in C, P. 108

Kuusisto, Heikinheimo, Gotlibovich, Deschamps, Lee

Although Michael Haydn was allowed to eat in the officer’s canteen and Wolfgang only in the soldiers’, Coloredo’s two employees had great respect for each other. Maybe too great, since Mozart borrowed all his ideas for his Quintet in C from that by Michael. Or maybe Mozart was a prince after all. When Michael was unable to finish the duos for violin and viola he had been commissioned to write for the stern archbishop, he wrote them under his own name, just to help out. For quite a while the duos were known and performed as Haydn’s. Only time, the merciless judge of substance and quality, has drawn a line in the sand. The Mozart duos became immortal and Michael's gained only the respect they deserve.

W.A. Mozart (1756–1791):

String Quintet in C, K. 515

Roussev, Picard, Imai, Maijala, Cohen

41 15.30 Lentiira Church €14.50/10.50

W.A. Mozart (1756–1791):

Duo in G, K. 423 for Violin and Viola 

Zhu, Gotlibovich

Duo in B flat, K. 292 for Bassoon and Cello

Luoma, Helmerson

Duo in B flat, K. 424 for Violin and Viola 

Shaham, Gotlibovich

42 18.30 Kuhmo Arts Centre €19.50/14

Béla Bartók (1881–1945):

Contrasts, BB 116 for Violin, Clarinet and Piano 

Shaham, Lethiec, Rucli

Carlo Gesualdo di Venosa (1560–1613):

Responsorio della tenebrae - Tristis est anima…

Hata, Katajala, Torikka, Mendelssohn, Donin, Lehto

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897):

Trio in E flat, Op. 40 for Violin, French Horn and Piano 

Joulain, Roussev, Jumppanen

Intermission

The feeling of tragedy and of contained, unostentatious sadness connects like an invisible line in the sand the slow movement of the Brahms Trio to the four mesto movements of Bartok's No. 6. Here is a masterpiece conceived to stop at the edge of an abyss with two suspended gestures: resignation (the viola stops playing) and a farewell caress (the cello pizzicati). It was to be his last quartet…

Béla Bartók:

String Quartet No. 6, Sz 114

Enescu Quartet

43 21.15 Kontio School €14.50/10.50

Sandcastles

A Carte Blanche for Pekka Kuusisto 

Kuusisto, Rantala