The Louvre was hosting several concerts of the Kronberg Academy this week. The Kronberg Academy is an institution which aims to support highly gifted young violinists, violists and cellists.
Music luminaries such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Christian Tetzlaff, Nobuko Imai, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Tabea Zimmermann and Marta Casals Istomin are or have been involved with the Academy, as teachers or/and members of its artistic council.
Saturday‘s concert, which was broadcast live on the French radio, was the last one of the series, with professors Mihaela Martin (violin) and Frans Helmerson (cello), and 5 students: Fumika Mohri and Marc Bouchkov (violin), Timothy Ridout and Adrien Boisseau (viola), Bruno Philippe (cello).
Together they played 2 sextets: Brahms 1st Sextet, with its wonderful fervent 2nd movement, Andante, ma moderato, and Tchaikovsky’s Sextet “Souvenir de Florence”. This very nice composition includes reminiscence of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet (both works are in D minor) in its introductory Allegro con spirito, and foreshadows Janáček string Quartets in the Allegro Moderato. The final movement, Allegro vivace gives prominence to the fugue. A very nice work – with little Italian influence! – in a fine rendition by the 2 teachers and their very promising students…
Mihaela Martin, Timothy Ridout, Frans Helmerson
Bruno Philippe, Mihaela Martin, Marc Bouchkov, Timothy Ridout, Adrien Boisseau, Fumika Mohri, Frans Helmerson
Frans Helmerson
