One evening – the forgotten, the unknown and the canonical.
Of the modernist Imants Mežaraups, who died far too young, his colleague Jānis Petraškevičs speaks as “a witty, artistic and luminous person, a gifted musician.” Imants Mežaraups said of his trio, written in the finest period of his output: “This work is at once modern and traditional. The listener is not alienated; the piece holds both contemporary and romantic elements.”
Dan Visconti is a young American composer who goes against the current, and his distinctive music is woven through with the strong influence of North America’s many cultures. The piece Lonesome Roads is a car journey across the United States – the composer himself calls it automobile music, to be enjoyed while watching North America’s varied landscapes go by. He suggests that the work’s seven movements be played in any order, depending on how the trio’s players have plotted their route along America’s loneliest roads.
The concert is crowned by Dmitri Shostakovich’s Second Piano Trio – a heartfelt tribute to the memory of a close friend, the brilliant cultural historian Ivan Sollertinsky. Sollertinsky (1902–1944) was a phenomenally erudite musicologist, theatre expert and Romance-language scholar, a man of encyclopaedic knowledge, professor at the Leningrad Conservatoire and artistic director of the Leningrad Philharmonic. Curiously, in Russian musical history piano trios have repeatedly become memorial pieces – Tchaikovsky wrote his in memory of Nikolai Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff remembered Tchaikovsky in his, and Arensky composed a tribute to the memory of Karl Davydov. Now it was Shostakovich’s turn to clothe in music his memories of the man he called his closest friend.
The LNSO Piano Trio was formed in 2015 and brings together a member of the LNSO first violins, Indulis Cintiņš, a member of the LNSO cello section, Dace Zālīte, and the LNSO’s regular guest pianist, Mārtiņš Zilberts.
Indulis Cintiņš has been a member of the LNSO first violins since 2006 and, since 2010, a violin teacher at the Jūrmala Music School. He plays in the quartet Undertango. He founded and leads the string quartet Fantastic Four, whose repertoire runs from classical music to jazz. He has taken part in productions at the National Theatre and the Valmiera Theatre.
Dace Zālīte is one of the most notable young Latvian cellists. A member of the LNSO since 2011, she was nominated for the Latvian Grand Music Award 2012 in the category “Outstanding Debut”, and received the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and Swedbank prize “Young Musician of the Year 2011”.
Mārtiņš Zilberts has been principal répétiteur to the soloists of the Latvian National Opera since 2008 and is an assistant professor in the Chamber Ensemble and Piano Accompaniment Department of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. One of Latvia’s busiest concert pianists and accompanists, he takes part in many chamber-music projects. Mārtiņš gives chamber concerts in the Latvian National Opera’s Beletāža Hall with well-known chamber musicians, performs with the Latvian National Opera’s leading soloists, and works with Latvia’s finest choirs as well as with the LNSO. He is a co-founder and member of the instrumental ensembles Undertango and “Brokastis četratā”.
Incidentally, a disc recorded by Dace Zālīte and Mārtiņš Zilberts has just been released, dedicated to the memory of the outstanding cellist Māris Villerušs, Dace’s teacher, and featuring sonatas by Johannes Brahms and César Franck.
LNSO Piano Trio:
Indulis CINTIŅŠ, violin
Dace ZĀLĪTE, cello
Mārtiņš ZILBERTS, piano