Classical Festival-Mountain Church-Concert

Simone Roggen, violin, and Karolina Öhman, cello, perform a versatile duo program featuring music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók, Pēteris Vasks, and Zoltán Kodály. The program begins with preludes from Johann Sebastian Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier," alternating with duos from Béla Bartók's "44 Duos for Two Violins." Bartók was heavily inspired by Hungarian and Eastern European folk music. Together with Zoltán Kodály, he collected and researched folk songs in Hungarian villages, which later influenced his own music and are clearly audible in these short duos. The Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks often addresses themes of nature, spirituality, and the human inner world in his music. The work "Castillo Interior" for violin and cello refers to Teresa of Ávila's eponymous work and its image of an "inner castle" as a symbol for the journey of a person towards themselves. At the center of the program is Zoltán Kodály's Duo for violin and cello, op. 7, one of the most significant works for this instrumentation. The piece, composed in 1914, also clearly reflects Kodály's engagement with Hungarian folk music. The violin and cello enter into a close, often conversational dialogue as equal partners. Expressive melodies and characteristic rhythms define the work. Simone Roggen - violin & Karolina Öhman - cello