Beethoven & Chopin: Piano Trios Gidon Kremer, Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė, Georgijs Osokins

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56 (Arr. C. Reinecke for Piano Trio):
• 1 Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56 (Arr. C. Reinecke for Piano Trio): I. Allegro 18:44
• 2 Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56 (Arr. C. Reinecke for Piano Trio): II. Largo 05:07
• 3 Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56 (Arr. C. Reinecke for Piano Trio): III. Rondo alla polacca 13:56
• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849): Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 8, B. 25:
• 4 Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 8, B. 25: I. Allegro con fuoco 10:56
• 5 Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 8, B. 25: II. Scherzo. Vivace 06:45
• 6 Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 8, B. 25: III. Adagio. Sostenuto 06:13
• 7 Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 8, B. 25: IV. Finale. Allegretto 05:38
• Total Runtime 01:07:19

Info for Beethoven & Chopin: Piano Trios

With his unusually uncompromising artistic attitude, Gidon Kremer is considered worldwide to be one of the most original and convincing artists of his generation. “Extraordinary and unpredictable” was how the press cheered the young pianist Georgijs Osokins after he turned heads for the first time at the International Chopin Competition in 2015. Gidon Kremer is one of the early supporters of the young Lithuanian and together with Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė, which has played an important role in the Kremerata Baltica for many years, they now present their first joint recording with piano trios by Beethoven and Chopin.

It begins with Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” in the arrangement for piano trio by Carl Reinecke. Here, the equal cooperation of all three voices can be experienced in a purely chamber music version: Full concentration on the democracy set in music by Beethoven and a permanent role reversal between orchestral compactness and soloistic virtuosity.

Frédéric Chopin’s rarely performed G Minor Trio is one of the composer’s early chamber music works and, remarkably, the only one with violin. It follows the sonata form but is a true musical drama in four acts – with a conciliatory yet melancholy ending, not least because of its key of G minor.

Gidon Kremer, violin
Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė, cello
Georgijs Osokins, piano

Gidon Kremer
Violinist, artistic director and founder of Kremerata Baltica.

Driven by his strikingly uncompromising artistic philosophy, Gidon Kremer has established a worldwide reputation as one of his generation’s most original and compelling artists. His repertoire encompasses standard classical scores and music by leading twentieth and twenty-first century composers. He has championed the works of Russian and Eastern European composers and performed many important new compositions, several of which have been dedicated to him. His name is closely associated with such composers as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Edison Denisov, Aribert Reimann, Pēteris Vasks, John Adams, Victor Kissine, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov and Astor Piazzolla, whose works he performs in ways that respect tradition while being fully alive to their freshness and originality. It is fair to say that no other soloist of comparable international stature has done more to promote the cause of contemporary composers and new music for violin.

Gidon Kremer has recorded over 120 albums, many of which have received prestigious international awards in recognition of their exceptional interpretative insights. His long list of honours and awards include the Ernst von Siemens Musikpreis, the Bundesverdienstkreuz, Moscow’s Triumph Prize, the Unesco Prize and the Una Vita Nella Musica – Artur Rubinstein Prize. In 2016 Gidon Kremer has received a Praemium Imperiale prize that is widely considered to be the Nobel Prize of music.

In 1997 Gidon Kremer founded the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica to foster outstanding young musicians from the Baltic States. The ensemble tours extensively and has recorded almost 30 albums for the Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon, Burleske and ECM labels. “After Mozart” (Nonesuch, 2001) received an ECHO prize and a GRAMMY award in 2002, while their recent release on ECM of works by Mieczysław Weinberg was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2015.

Maestro Kremer will lead Kremerata Baltica on landmark tours of North America and Europe in 2016-17 to celebrate the orchestra’s 20th anniversary and his 70th birthday year.

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