Claire Chevallier already performed a successful Satie concert at the Handelsbeurs last season. She now returns, together with the Russian Sergei Istomin. The cultural bond that existed between Moscow and Paris in the 19th and early 20th centuries often appears in our program. The Hungarian pianist Zoltan Kocsis once sneered that the band's main reason for existence was an attempt to bypass Vienna. Paris and Moscow would not be able to cope with Vienna's sheer artistry, that is, the idea that music in itself can be serious enough without a programmatic, philosophical or ideological framework. Whether that quip makes sense remains to be seen. In any case, pianist Claire Chevallier and cellist Sergej Istomin fully explore the Russian-French connection. Stravinsky and Prokofiev are the two musical troublemakers who were allowed to make artistic Paris unsafe under the tutelage of Diaghilev. From the first, the 'Suite Italienne' is on the program, based on themes by Pergolesi and his own suite 'Pulcinella'. By Prokofiev, as well as by the Parisian Poulenc, there is the only sonata for cello and piano. Chevallier completes the program with some preludes by Scriabin, written in… Moscow and Paris.
