Caprice

»Caprice«, the first chamber concert, is devoted entirely to the sound of strings.
It opens with a cheerful trio by the Bohemian double bassist Adolf Mišek, who performed as a soloist in Vienna and Prague. His work »Nach dem Geschmack eines Junggesellen« (To the Taste of a Bachelor) unfolds with dance-like verve and folksy humour. The virtuosity continues with Niccolò Paganini's »Moses Fantasy« for two cellos – a bravura piece based on a theme from Rossini's opera »Moses in Egypt«. Georg Philipp Telemann's concerto for four violas, originally intended for violins, dispenses with the usual continuo and surprises with its tonal clarity. Japanese composer Ichirō Nodaïra transforms Bach's famous Chaconne into a dark soundscape for four violas. Tchaikovsky's »Nutcracker« Overture also appears in an unusual instrumentation and unfolds with fairy-tale warmth. Benjamin Dale's »Introduction and Andante« for six violas was written in 1911 for the English violist Lionel Tertis – a late Romantic work full of expressiveness. The solemn finale is provided by Eugène Ysaÿe's Sonata for Two Solo Violins from 1915. It is dedicated to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. Her Majesty was a pupil of the composer, with whom she often played music and who founded the famous Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels.