Program:
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba in D major, BWV 1028
Serge Koussevitzky: Double Bass Concerto in F sharp minor, Op.3
György Kurtág: Les Adieux
Leoš Janáček: Sonata 1.X.1905., „From the Street”
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György Kurtág: Hommage à Devich Sándor
György Kurtág: Signs, Games and Messages 6 – Message-consolation à Christian Sutter
György Ligeti: Etudes – 16. Pour Irina
Claude Debussy: 12 etudes – 6. Pour les huit doigts, 10. Pour les sonorités opposées, 11. Pour les arpèges composés
Ernest Bloch: From Jewish Life – 1. Prayer – arranged by Benedek Devich
Gustav Mahler: Rückert Lieder – 4. Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft – arranged by Benedek Devich
Featuring:
Benedek Devich – double bass
Gorka Plada – piano
The two young artists, Benedek Devich and Gorka Plada, have found their musical home in the world of 20th- and 21st-century compositions, instead of the classical-romantic virtuoso repertoire. Their programme aims to showcase the lyrical face of the double bass, but it is also a subtle selection that highlights the piano's profound diversity. The concert is dedicated to György Kurtág, to whom Benedek has close ties not only through the musical activity of his family, but also through his personal collaboration with the composer in preparing for the premiere of a piece in memory of his grandfather, Sándor Devich.
Since the beginning of his career, Benedek Devich has considered one of his most important missions to present the double bass as a solo instrument. He is passionately convinced that the range of the bass is as inexhaustible as that of the more well-known and respected members of the string instrument family. In his concerts, he strives to give audiences a richly resonant experience of violin and cello recitals, not only by performing the relatively limited repertoire for double bass, but also by expressing the instrument's versatility through his own arrangements.
He met pianist Gorka Plada for the first time at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule in Berlin and they quickly formed a duo. Plada is the winner of the 2023 Steinway Sponsorship Award, his teachers include András Schiff and Eberhard Feltz, and he has performed with renowned artists such as Stefan Dohr and Valeriy Sokolov. The duo has performed at numerous international festivals in recent years, including IMS Prussia Cove, the Kronberg Academy's “Chamber Music Connects the World”, Heidelberger Frühling and Krzyzowa Music in Poland.
