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Programme notes<br />
better than words could. It was only a couple<br />
of weeks later that the young Felix died of<br />
tuberculosis. In the whole output of Brahms,<br />
a composer who always carefully followed<br />
the strategy of concealment of the personal<br />
in his art, this moment remains possibly the<br />
most majestic of all. The death of Felix is<br />
documented, imprinted in this sonata in an<br />
almost archaeological way: as the melody<br />
from a letter to Clara is interrupted by a<br />
funeral march, the Sonata changes its course<br />
and never becomes the happy piece that it<br />
promised to be, and probably would have<br />
been, had circumstances been different.<br />
Instead, in its final movement, punctuated<br />
by a rhythm of irregular heartbeat, it threads<br />
memories and doubts, that at times seem to<br />
be lit by a faint, otherworldly light coming<br />
through a curtain of rain, as a glimpse of<br />
hope.<br />
gently – as if searching like a blind person<br />
for something that is beyond our field of<br />
vision or understanding. The Seven Poems of<br />
Alexander Blok is one of the most important<br />
works from the late period but also one of<br />
the least known. The synthesis of Blok’s<br />
poetry - intuitive, brooding, sensual, and<br />
deeply, richly symbolist - with this stark and<br />
almost monochromatic music is paradoxical<br />
and disturbing - as if some dark ancient<br />
prophecies were whispered, muttered, and<br />
cried out to us desperately but indistinctly<br />
by someone on the very threshold of being.<br />
Seven romances of Dmitri Shostakovich<br />
It is interesting how universal some of the<br />
most private human experiences can be.<br />
For instance, the way we approach the end<br />
of our life is for most of us a very private<br />
affair. But looking at the history of art we<br />
find that this path is so often walked in<br />
similar ways. The evidence of this is found<br />
in the so called “late style” which, for a<br />
countless number of artists across all art<br />
forms, repeats the same characteristics:<br />
austerity, sparseness, simplicity; the<br />
unusual combination of greater freedom<br />
with a certain rigour that often makes the<br />
work ambiguous and cryptic. This also<br />
describes the late style of Shostakovich,<br />
at times severe and abstract, and at times<br />
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