Intimate letters and Suite Italienne — Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Liza Ferschtman + Rick Stotijn

Brand new Stravinsky arrangement and Janáček’s love music

For his cheerful ballet Pulcinella, Igor Stravinsky borrowed material from Baroque masters such as Pergolesi and the Dutch composer Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. He arranged several movements from this ballet music into a suite for violin and piano. Today, this Suite Italienne is performed in a brand-new virtuoso arrangement for violin, double bass and string orchestra.

Leoš Janáček’s Intimate letters overflows with raw emotion, vivid contrasts and expressive melodies. In the work, he gives voice to his profound, platonic love for Kamila Stösslová, who was 38 years his junior. The roughly seven hundred love letters he penned to her between 1919 and his death in 1928 culminated in one of the most personal and passionate string quartets of the 20th century. Mieczysław Weinberg was also renowned for his deeply expressive music. In his Rhapsody, he transforms Moldavian folk melodies into an energetic klezmer dance.