Alexandra Conunova

Yura Lee

Danae Dörken

Andreas Brantelid

Stavanger Kammermusikkfestival

A great deal has been said about Mozart's money problems in the last years of his life. When he died he left behind a wardrobe of 27 coats in shades of red, two billiard tables, and a household with a cook, a maid and a nanny. So things cannot have been as dreadful as all that. It is more likely that Mozart had an extravagant lifestyle during the joyful early years in Vienna, and failed to adjust to a lower income. And there was one man in particular whom Mozart used as a human credit card: his Freemason friend Michael Puchberg. Puchberg must have been a man of good heart, for he kept lending Mozart money even though he rarely got it back.

It may have been out of both cynicism and gratitude that Mozart dedicated his Divertimento in E-flat major for string trio to Puchberg. A divertimento was traditionally a rather light-hearted piece of music, often meant to be played outdoors. But in this case we are talking about some of the most sublime chamber music Mozart wrote. Yes, the divertimento has its light-hearted episodes, especially the two minuet movements. But these may just as well serve to cool us down a little after the two opening movements and the variation movement. The richness of tone colors and the lines Mozart draws out of just three instruments is unparalleled.

This was pioneering work: the string trio genre was untried, and on the first and only attempt Mozart wrote perhaps the finest of them all.

We begin the concert in two places we have never before visited during the festival: Turkey and Syria, with pieces by living composers Fazil Say and Kinan Azmeh, who are both also performing musicians of the highest level, on piano and clarinet respectively. Here we hear folk music in the garb that suits it best: timeless and modern at the same time.

Luxury Trap in 1788