Dialog

The steiner duo basel plays works by Beethoven, Schnyder, Bréval and Mozart

Under the title "Dialog", the steiner duo basel performs works by four different composers. Three of them from the classical period were written at almost the same time and show how the cello and violin can enter into a musical exchange on an equal footing. The duo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is particularly remarkable: here, the two instruments meet at eye level - a deliberate contrast to the duos by Michael Haydn, to whom the piece has long been attributed. Ludwig van Beethoven and Jean-Baptiste Bréval also rely on an artful interplay between melody and accompaniment in their compositions - always in dialog with one another.

The contemporary counterpoint is provided by Daniel Schnyder's duo Lettres Persanes. Rhythmic sophistication, experimental playing techniques such as glissandi and pizzicati as well as the influence of jazz and oriental timbres lend the work a fascinating complexity. Inspired by Montesquieu's epistolary novel of the same name (Lettres persanes, 1721), in which a fictitious exchange of letters between Persian travelers and Europeans unfolds an intercultural discourse, Schnyder expresses this dialogue musically - as an encounter between Western classical music and Eastern soundscapes.


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.