SHOSTAKOVICH’S VISIT to Ireland in 1972 and ‘Jewish themed’ works by him andf Aaron Copeland will be the centerpieces of a Music For Galway event.
Violinist Elizabeth Cooney, Music For Galway’s artistic director and pianist Finghin Collins, and French cellist Marc Coppey will be in the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway, on Tuesday March 11 at 8pm to perform Aaron Copland’s ‘Vitebsk’, Dimitri Shostakovic’s Piano Trio No 2 in E minor, Op 67; and Antonin Dvorak’s ‘Dumky’. The concert will be preceded at 7pm with a talk by Prof Ronald J Hill on Shostakovich’s visit to Dublin in 1972.
Speaking about the concert Finghin Collins says:
“Jewish and Slavic themes link the three works for piano trio in the Eastern-looking programme. Copland’s ‘Vitebsk’ is the only work in which the composer makes direct use of musical materials that reflect his own Jewish heritage. Unusually for him, he uses quarter tones in this short work to conjure up a spiky, austere, grim atmosphere.
“Dvorak’s ‘Dumky’ trio is a suite of six Slavic songs and dances, an alternation of slow, melancholy, music with upbeat, catchy, tunes.
“Shostakovich’s second piano trio is a lamentation for the composer’s close friend Ivan Sollertinsky and the victims of the Holocaust. In it the composer uses Jewish themes for the first time. It is a work of incredible emotional power and intensity and remains one of the strongest works in the piano trio repertoire.”
Tickets are €20/16/6 from Music for Galway (091 - 705962, [email protected] ); Opus II, High Street; or www.tht.ie
