The Chania Chamber Music Festival, now in its 11th year, claims to be the only event in Crete devoted exclusively to chamber music. Its artistic committee is composed of a number of distinguished musicians: violinist Giorgos Demertzis, pianists Vasilis Varvaresos and Titos Gouvelis, cellist Angelos Liakakis and violinist-businessman Giorgos Mathioulakis. This year’s festival, which carries the title “The Creation of the World – La Création du Monde”, from the 1923 work of the same name by Darius Milhaud, aims to present works which were ground-breaking in their time, opening up new artistic horizons.
There will be five concerts in total, three of them held as usual at the Minoa Palace Resort in Platanias, and the last two (on 3rd and 4th September) at the Theatre in Ancient Aptera, jointly organised with the Cretan Regional Authority and the Chania Ephorate of Antiquities.
The programmes this year include three pioneering works which radically changed the nature of chamber music: Schumann’s Piano Quintet (3rd and 4th September), Beethoven’s Sonata No. 1 for cello and piano (1st September) and Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1. (30th August).
There are also more modern pieces which are seldom performed to Greek audiences:
– Vox Balaenae (the Voice of the Whale) by American composer George Crumb, a work for flute, cello and piano, has the performers don blue masks and play under blue light in imitation of the whale’s natural habitat.
– Steve Reich’s WTC 9/11, for a string quartet and prerecorded tape, evokes the terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001, using recorded extracts from communications on that day.
The title piece of the series, Darius Milhaud’s Creation of the World, was written for a 15-minute ballet which outlines the creation of the world based on African folk mythology and makes use of jazz elements which the composer heard on a trip to Harlem in 1922. Austrian composer Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata (28th August), published in 1910, followed his studies with Arnold Schoenberg, who was later to develop the 12-tone technique of composition. Other 20th century works are Russia-born Alfred Schnittke’s Piano Quintet, for piano and string quartet, which he composed between 1972-76 in memory of his mother, and Carl Nielsen’s Second Sonata, composed in 1912.
The inaugural concert represents a meeting between generations, with established Greek soloists playing alongside members of the Cretan Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Heraklion under the musical direction of Lina Zachari. They will perform Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, a symphonic poem inspired by the poem of the same name by Stéphane Mallarmé, which was subsequently adapted for chamber group by Benno Sachs of the Schoenberg Verein.
Czech violinist Josef Špaček and Italian flautist Silvia Careddu are among the foreign musicians performing at the Chania Chamber Music Festival. Photos: ticketservices.gr.
This year the Festival continues its tradition of collaborations with well-known musicians from abroad, with repeat appearances by the Czech violinist Josef Špaček and the Polish violinist Pawel Zalejski. Appearing for the first time are the Italian Silvia Careddu, who is first flautist with the Orchestre National de France, and the Israeli clarinettist Shirley Brill.
The concluding concert will again take place at the archaeological site of Aptera on 3rd September, with free entrance to the public, and in view of the demand it is being repeated the following day, 4th September. For all the concerts at the Minoa Palace Resort, there will be special discounts for students and music school pupils, under 25s, the disabled and the unemployed. Admission is €15.00 for standard tickets and €7.00 for concessions.
The programmes
Minoa Palace Resort, Monday 28th August, 9:00 pm
Concert 1 – In the world
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (transcribed for chamber ensemble by Benno Sachs under the supervision of Arnold Schoenberg)
Alban Berg (1885-1935) – Piano Sonata opus 1
Steve Reich (b. 1936) – WTC 9/11, for string quartet and prerecorded tape
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) – Trio élégiaque no.1 in G minor
Minoa Palace Resort, Wednesday 30th August, 9:00 pm
Concert 2 – Beyond the world
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) – Sonata for violin and piano no.2, opus 35
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) – Piano Quartet no.1 in G minor, Κ.478
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) – Piano Quintet
Minoa Palace Resort, Friday 1st September, 9:00 pm
Concert 3 – Parallel worlds
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) – Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet
Simos Papanas (b. 1979) – Sonata for violin and harp
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) – Sonata for cello and piano no.1 in F major, opus 5 no.1
Ancient Theatre of Aptera, Sunday 3rd September and Monday 4th September, 9:00 pm
Concerts 4 and 5 – The creation of the world
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) – La création du monde (The Creation of the World), suite de concert op. 81b, for chamber ensemble
George Crumb (1929-2022) – Vox balaenae (The voice of the whale) for three masked players (electric flute, electric cello and amplified piano)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) – Piano Quintet in E flat major, opus 44
Tickets are available for concerts 1, 2 and 3 at https://www.ticketservices.gr/event/11th-chamber-music-festival-chania/?lang=en. Concerts 4 and 5 at Aptera are sold out.
A performance of Darius Milhaud’s La Création du Monde by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu9VSsqhjZQ