Program
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Piano Trio in A minor, M. 67 (1914)
Modéré
Pantoum: Assez vif
Passacaille: Très large
Finale: Animé
Marko Nikodijević (b. 1980)
String Quartet No. 2 (2019)
Introduzione
Ruvido e animato
Tango. Oscuro e minaccioso
Vivace
Adagio mesto
Intermission
Marko Nikodijević
Prelazak preko noćnog plavetnila / “Crossing the Night Blue”
for piano quintet (2020)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 (1940)
Prelude: Lento – Poco più mosso – Lento
Fugue: Adagio
Scherzo: Allegretto
Intermezzo: Lento
Finale: Allegretto
Details
The soloists of the musicAeterna orchestra present a new chamber music program featuring works by Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich, and the prominent contemporary Serbian composer Marko Nikodijević.
The concert is built on the principle of growing musical texture and density — from trio to piano quintet. It opens with Ravel’s Piano Trio, a virtuosic cycle, a brilliant example of mature composer’s style. The music blends Basque rhythms unfamiliar to the Western ear with exotic structures inspired by Malay poetry, combining sharp instrumental clarity with deep emotional resonance. This performance also celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth.
The program concludes with Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, a work that was met with great acclaim at its 1940 premiere. It mixes Bach-like polyphony with folk-style melodies reminiscent of Mussorgsky’s operatic language. The lyrical and dramatic elements are seamlessly fused, while the dark, aggressive undertones so common in Shostakovich’s music are almost absent. Musicologist Levon Akopyan quotes British critic Gerald Abraham’s description of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, which fits the quintet as well: “This is Shostakovich after the devils have been driven out.”
Between these two 20th-century chamber classics are two works by our contemporary, Marko Nikodijević: the String Quartet No. 2 and a poetic piece for the piano quintet titled Crossing the Night Blue.
Nikodijević’s music — energetic, vivid, and often influenced either by historical traditions or techno-inspired sounds — is well known to the audience of the Diaghilev Festival.