Konzerte der Chamber Soloists Lucerne in Japan

J.S.Bach: „Praeludium“ of the Suite No. 2 in d minor for violoncello solo
Thüring Bräm: „Er-Innerung“ for violoncello solo
Minoru Miki: „Ode for a Forest“ for pipa and violoncello

Gabriel Fauré: Après un rêve for violoncello and piano
Georg Goltermann: Etude-Caprice for violoncello and piano
Camille Saint-Saens: The Swan for violoncello and piano
Thüring Bräm: „For you“ for pipa solo

Four arrangements  for pipa, violoncello and piano:
Charlie Chaplin; „Falling Stars“ and „Napoli“
Edward Elgar: „Salut d’amour“
Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No.5

Intermission

Ludwig van Beethoven/Mozart:  „Bei Männern welche Liebe  fühlen“ Variations  for violoncello and piano

Minoru Miki: Ai-en for pipa
J.S. Bach: Air and Badinerie for pipa, violoncello and piano
Thüring Bräm: 5 Adagios for violoncello  and piano

Arrangements  for pipa, violoncello and piano:
Georges Bizet: Torreador  from Carmen
Folk Tune from Londonderry (Ireland)
Georg Kreisler: „Viennese March“
Tango
„Sicilienne“
Aram Khatchaturian: „Sabre Dance“

Colour and variety with a mix of light classical tunes and short new contemporary pieces characterize this program of the Chamber Soloists from Lucerne (Switzerland) .  Members of the Chamber Soloists, one of the outstanding chamber music ensembles in Switzerland, are playing in this concert in a new and rare formation: a trio combining the conventional European instruments of violoncello and piano with the Chinese pipa.  It was necessary to make arrangements of the classical pieces as there is no original literature for this combination of instruments, which blend wonderfully both in the new pieces and in the classical pieces such as Brahms’ Hungarian Dance or Kreisler’s Viennese March. The colour of the pipa is similar to the Hungarian cymbalom and the Swiss dulcimer, but at the same time gives the pieces an exciting, new quality.

Interspersed between the lighter classical arrangements are newer compositions of two leading composers of their countries: Minoru Miki from Japan and Thüring Bräm from Switzerland.
The solo cello piece by Bräm is the central movement of his first string quartet written in 1990. The title, " Er-Innerung" is a play on the German word for memory (Erinnerung); we are dealing with memories from within, unheard music that comes to the surface. Bräm's  piece for pipa ("For you") is dedicated to Yang Jing and was written in 2004 from a European's point of view for this fascinating and (for Europeans) „exotic“, instrument. A majestic first movement and a virtuoso third movement embrace a tender and soft middle part.
Bräm's five "Adagios" from 1996 were written for a cellist friend’s 50th birthday; they remind us in very short flashes of important pieces from the cello repertoire: Fauré’s Elegy (No. 2), Tschaikowsky’s „Rococo Variations“ (No. 4) or Beethoven’s Tripel Concerto (No. 5).

The first piece from the cello suite No. 2 by Bach gives the concert a calm, quiet and melodious beginning. In the second half, we hear one of the most brilliant and witty pieces of the European repertoire, a 200 year old arrangement by Beethoven of the melody of a famous tune by Mozart („When men fall in love...“).

The solo piece for pipa by Minoru Miki provides a contrast of style and colour. And finally,  following  two pieces by Bach in an arrangement made for this new trio, the concert will end with a variety of folk tunes and popular melodies from all over Europe (French, Irish, Austrian, Spanish, Russian).

A fascinating new  way of having a musical meeting of European traditions with Asia.