Friday, 14th September 2012 at 11:00
Union Hall, Maribor

Performers:
Maribor Festival Orchestra
Mate Bekavac – lead and solo clarinet

Soloists:
Jan-Erik Gustafsson – solo cello
Dénes Várjon – piano
Izabella Simon – piano
Brett Dean – viola

Danilo Ženko – Sound Engineer

Program:
Max Bruch: Nocturno, Op. 83 No. 6 for Clarinet, Viola and Piano (1910)
Robert Schumann: Märchenerzählungen, for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 132 (1853)
Meyer Kupferman: Moonflowers, Baby! for clarinet solo (1986)
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Ludwig van Beethoven: Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in B-flat Major, Op. 11, "Gassenhauer" (1798)
Guillaume Connesson: Disco Toccata for Clarinet and Cello (1996)
Friedrich Gulda: Concerto for Violoncello and Wind Orchestra (1980)

The daring program with Mate Bekavac is, like the clarinettist himself, everything else but classical. Beethoven’s Trio “Gassenhauer” coalesces with Bruch’s romantic Nocturno and Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen that flow into the more contemporary jazz rhythms of Meyer Kupferman, Guillaume Connesson and last but not least Friedrich Gulda.

The program matches Gulda’s claim: "The wall between classical music and jazz is slowly coming down. After all, there was baroque music, classical music, romantic music and impressionistic music. Each was simply a different way of composing and playing. And jazz is just another way of composing and playing''.

The title of the documentary on Gulda “So what?!” already speaks for itself. An interesting intertwining of only seemingly different music trends brought world-acclaim to Gulda and the daring Bekavac is also known for his masterly combinations of music from different periods and genres. He will be joined by other eminent musicians – the extraordinary Finnish cellist Jan Erik Gustafsson, Brett Dean, who will enrich this year’s festival with his compositions and as a wonderful violist at this concert, and our pianists in residence for this year, Dénes Várjon in Izabella Simon.