ORION ENSEMBLE

Sjostakovitsj said about Jewish folk music the following: “…very varied music, which outwardly can be cheerful but in reality is sad. Music on the verge of being a laugh amidst tears…” The Orion Ensemble plays music by three composers that used Jewish folk music as a source of inspiration.Leonard Leutscher relates how each of these composers does so in his own way, with his own style and dramatic expression.John Williams’s beautiful music in the film Schindler’s List, dedicated to the violinist Itzhak Perlman.The second piano trio by Sjostakovtsj , written as an in memoriam to his friend Sollertinski, in a period when Russia suffered under the terror and oppression by Stalin. To Sjostakovitsj composing was the only means of resistance. Which secret language, invisible to censorship, Sjostakovtsj speaks here? And to wind up with the cheerful and virtuoso ‘Sounds from the past’ by Joachim Stutsjevsky, in which unmistakably can be heard that he is descended from a family of traditional klezmer musicians.

Suite from Schindler’s List – John Williams
Sounds from the Past – Joachim Stutchevsky
Piano trio nr.2 - Dimitri Sjostakovitsj

(choice of music with reservation)