Concerto Budapest – Premiere

“Eine (andere) Winterreise” (after Franz Schubert) was initiated by Gidon Kremer.

This cycle of compositions is dedicated to the anniversaries of Kremerata Baltica (25) and Gidon Kremer (75). Gidon Kremer has suggested and inspired many composers to create music to special projects. Often the new music is made as a tribute to one beloved composer – as a constant source of inspiration.

10 years ago before this Winterreise there was made another project – BACH: The Art of Instrumentation: Homage to Glenn Gould. Seven composers wrote variations of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier themes, which was interpreted by pianist Glenn Gould.

20 years ago Gidon Kremer asked Leonid Desyatnikov for a piece who dedicated to him and Kremerata Baltica a new work for violin and string orchestra Wie der alte Leiermann …, in which the composer referred to the last song of Schubertʼs Winterreise. The composer noted that this song, created in the early nineteenth century was a masterpiece of minimalism, and that his own opus is not to be considered neither a paraphrase nor a fantasy, but just a puzzle piece, a commentary to this melancholic song, in which his own style combines with Austrian romantic music allusions. There in the new dedication to Schubert the fantasy comments are provided by four more composers, invited by Gidon Kremer. All of them are close associates with Kremerata Baltica: Raminta Šerkšnyte, Alexander Raskatov, Victor Kissine and Georgijs Osokins. Schubert is our contemporary.