Chamber music with Ella van Poucke, Caspar Vos & Niek Baar

This evening, "artist in residence" Ella van Poucke takes center stage. Together with pianist Caspar Vos and violinist Niek Baar, she turns the spotlight on Sergei Rachmaninov, born 150 years ago, and on new work written for her by Ukrainian-Dutch composer Maxim Shalygin.

Sergei Rachmaninov left only ten works for chamber music scoring, including two unfinished string quartets. Ella van Poucke has three works from this legacy on the program. With pianist Caspar Vos and violinist Niek Baar, she performs the Trio élégiaque from the 1890s/91s - the work of a still-young Rachmaninov, but with characteristic elements that point forward to his later, mature style and definitely also to his pianistic virtuosity. The Prélude et danse orientale for cello and piano is Rachmaninov's opus 2, thus also a youthful work, which first saw the light in 1891 as a composition for solo piano.
Rachmaninov's most frequently performed chamber composition is the Cello Sonata opus 19, which Rachmaninov completed in November 1901. On Dec. 2, the composer and celebrated cellist Anatoli Brandukov, to whom the work is dedicated, gave the premiere in Moscow. The sonata is a gem in the cello repertoire.
Maxim Shalygin (1985, Kamianske) composed his Tristissima especially for Ella van Poucke. Shalygin adds that the work balances between a non-contemporary beauty and vulgarity, thus appealing to feelings we are often ashamed of.