In this program, pianist Juho Pohjonen contemplates Olivier Messiaen’s 1944 Le Baiser de l’enfant-Jésus (The Kiss of the Infant Jesus), a rapt, slow episode for solo piano that treats the “Theme of God” as a berceuse, or lullaby. The Dover Quartet’s cellist, Camden Shaw, enjoys the role of soloist as he inhabits the courtly, agreeable, and lush Cello Concerto in B-flat Major by the Italian, Classical-era composer, Luigi Boccherini. To conclude, violinist Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Shai Wosner play the intoxicating and wholly individual Sonata in C Major – music Bartók wrote in 1922 and which helped solidify his reputation as a composer of international stature.
Bartók & Boccherini
Cellist Camden Shaw is soloist, with an ensemble of Santa Fe Opera Orchestra musicians led by Daniel Jordan. (Photo: Scott Chamberlin)
Playlist
Olivier Messiaen: Le baiser de l’enfant-Jésus from Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus (1944)
Juho Pohjonen, piano
Luigi Boccherini: Cello Concerto in B-flat Major, G. 482 (late 1760s/early 1770s)
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andantino grazioso
III. Rondo: Allegro
Cellist Camden Shaw, soloist;
Santa Fe Opera Orchestra musicians; Daniel Jordan, concertmaster.
Béla Bartók: Sonata in C Major for Violin and Piano, Sz. 76 (1922)
I. Molto moderato
II. Allegretto
Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Shai Wosner, piano
