In Intimate Letters and Suite Italienne, a brand-new arrangement of Stravinsky’s ballet music is heard alongside one of the most passionate string works of the twentieth century.
For his lively ballet Pulcinella, Igor Stravinsky borrowed material from Baroque masters such as Pergolesi and the Dutch composer Van Wassenaar. He later arranged several movements from the ballet as a suite for violin and piano. This Suite Italienne is now performed in a brand-new, virtuosic arrangement for violin, double bass and string orchestra.
Janáček’s Intimate Letters is filled with raw emotion, vivid contrasts and expressive melodies: musical reflections of his deeply felt, platonic love for Kamila Stösslová, who was 38 years his junior. The roughly 700 love letters he wrote to her between 1919 and his death in 1928 ultimately found their way into one of the most personal and passionate string quartets of the twentieth century. Weinberg, too, was known for his deeply expressive music. In his Rhapsody, he transforms Moldavian folk melodies into an energetic klezmer dance.