PRELUDES TO A LOST TIME is a multi-medial project combining 2 different forms of art – visual and music. With the help of the project a completely new view to the last century is shown. In the transcription for violin solo and performance by Gidon Kremer, you will hear M.Weinberg’s 24 Preludes that were originally written for cello. It will be complemented by video material – photographs by the Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkus.

Both of the outstanding artists – Weinberg and Sutkus – are great personalities of their time. While for one its the sound, and for the other the world of visuals, both combined they create a a figurative interpretation of the soviet time environment.

For more information about the concert on June 16, please visit our concert section.

SCHUBERT MEETS SILVESTROV is the newest project by the orchestra’s artistic director Gidon Kremer. The project will be premiered in Cēsis. Maestro Kremer reflects: “The idea was born in a recent conversation between me and Valentin Silvestrov – a prominent Ukrainian composer who celebrated his 80th birthday last year.

I played a lot of his music, feeling that Silvestrov’s scores are masterpieces of tonality in our world very much oriented (except some important composers who use “minimalist” technics – be it Arvo Paert, Ph.Glass, Steve Reich etc.) towards post “twelve tone” and electronic music complexity.

After having experimented with all kind of composing technics in his youth, in his late works V.Silvestrov reminds us of the beauty tonality can have. He explores its “roots” in an unexpected way linking his statements to the best heritage of Romanticism but never falls into the trap of “clichés.” Valentin rather spins his individual voice around the samples left by romantic composers.

It was Silvestrov who dedicated his 5 pieces for violin and piano to me already many years ago but only now I felt the urge to play them in a Kremerata Baltica program dedicated mainly to works by Schubert.

It seemed to me that it would be the easiest to ask a composer to arrange the pieces for violin and string orchestra. But I must admit – I was wrong. Valentin didn’t accept my request, but came up with a more interesting idea which I was happy to follow.

He suggested – what I call “building bridges” – to mix some Schubert music with these pieces one by one. After giving it some thoughts and trying to imagine different combinations, I came up with the decision to build Valentin’s pieces into the “structure” of Schubert’s Sonatina in a-minor (instrumented for violin and strings by M.Tsynman). The meeting of 2 Romantics is now meant to happen on the “virtual bridges” of two scores and I do hope it will be a refreshing experience for us players, as well as for our audiences. Why? Because it seems Schubert and Silvestrov speak the same language of beauty despite the fact that Schubert lived centuries ago and Valentin is well and still very creative.”