Star violinist Daniel Hope called the tango violin concerto by Hamburg composer Hans-Christian Jaenicke "A deeply impressive work!"
The Quatuor Blanc, led by Hamburg-based composer and violinist Hans-Christian Jaenicke, is a young ensemble of international excellence that delights its listeners with uncompromising passion and brilliant virtuosity. Above all, however, it is the instrumentation that makes this quartet so special: in addition to the violin, there is an accordion, played by Goran Lazarevic from Serbia, a piano, played by virtuoso Salome Jijeishvili from Georgia and a double bass, played by Julian Eingang from Austria. The program includes Dvořák's string serenade and a tango violin concerto by the violinist.
In the classical chamber music repertoire, this combination of instruments is unjustly very rare. Here, the smallest and largest members of the string family meet the bellows and tongue of the accordion and the hammer and string of the piano. But it is precisely in this diversity that the four voices complement each other to form an idiosyncratic and expressive sound, which Jaenicke knows how to stage effectively in his compositions and arrangements.
Jaenicke's Violin Concerto from 2018 is a contemporary work in which elements of modernism, performative episodes, baroque polyphony, romantic and classical sensibilities, tango and milonga rhythms merge into a universal language. "A deeply impressive work!" is how star violinist Daniel Hope described this extensive and extremely demanding piece. Tango is more than just a rhythm here: it stands for a cosmopolitan music that moves around the globe and through the ages. Chriss Moss, music critic of the British magazine Songlines wrote: "Jaenicke's compositions are strident and sometimes severe, but there are also full of musicality and wit". Everything seems familiar, but everything is different, sometimes ironic and grotesque.
From the original scoring of the concerto for solo violin and orchestra, Jaenicke distilled an extremely condensed adaptation for a tango quartet line-up, which will be performed here in concert. It was premiered by the Quatuor Blanc in Hamburg's Laeiszhalle in 2024 and was euphorically received by the audience.
The Hamburg violinist has also arranged Antonín Dvořák's spring-like Serenade for Strings in E major for this instrumentation and inserted short interludes between the movements. Anyone who knows and loves this work will be intrigued: a delightful piece of music in an exciting new guise.
The event is kindly supported by the Sparkasse Vorpommern Foundation.
Program:
Antonín Dvořák (1841- 1904):
String Serenade in E major Op. 22 (1875)
(Dvořák Interludes I - IV)
- Intermission -
Hans-Christian Jaenicke (*1969):
Tango Violin Concerto (2018)
This season's exhibition features graphics by Helmut Müller, paintings and material pictures by Günther Hornig and turned objects made of green wood by Paolo Demartin.
