A Song to Freedom with Julius Drake, Günther Groissböck, Miquel Esquinas and Elisa Scudeller
Next Friday, March 28, LIFE Victoria presents a double recital at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, with the concept of freedom as its common thread. It will be an opportunity to hear a dream pairing formed by Austrian bass Günther Groissböck and British pianist Julius Drake (8:00 PM), preceded by the recital by pianist Miquel Esquinas and violinist Elisa Scudeller (7:00 PM).
Under the title Freiheit? Freiheit! (Freedom? Freedom!), Groissböck and Drake propose a musical journey through the many facets of freedom: longing, struggle, transcendence and liberation. From the mythological rebellion of Prometheus and Ganymede with Schubert’s Prometheus to redemption and spiritual freedom as represented in Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and its iconic “Urlicht”, the programme moves through landscapes of oppression and emancipation, of struggle and acceptance. Songs by Loewe and Strauss complete this exploration in which music becomes a space for reflection, from different perspectives, places and traditions, on what it means to be truly free.
This programme, which has met with success in the leading concert halls of Germany and the United Kingdom, is a personal proposal by Groissböck, who began reflecting on freedom shortly after the pandemic, a period that rekindled questions about the meaning of this fundamental right, so questioned and blurred today.
As is customary at the Festival, this recital will feature two LIFE New Artists as opening acts: soprano Maria Isart and pianist Quimey Urquiaga, who propose a musical dialogue in keeping with the concept of the programme. Through works by Mozart, Reynaldo Hahn and Carlos Guastavino, their performance will add new perspectives to the idea of freedom, from love and desire to connection with nature and the human essence.
Assertion and freedom with Esquinas and Scudeller
In parallel, Miquel Esquinas and Elisa Scudeller offer a programme that asserts freedom from a historical and social perspective, giving voice to those who have been silenced and to those who have fought for their rights.
The first part revolves around the work of three women from different eras and places, affirming their role in history and the richness of their legacy. With Clara Wieck Schumann’s Three Romances for violin and piano, Lili Boulanger’s Two Pieces for violin and piano and Alicia de Larrocha’s Romance, the performers reclaim works that have remained in the background in the face of the male canon.
In the second part, freedom is addressed through its absence, through two deeply symbolic works. Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for violin and piano, dedicated to Federico García Lorca, evokes the tragedy of the murdered poet. “Louange à l’éternité de Jésus”, from Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen, written and premiered in a Nazi concentration camp in 1941, transcends horror to find in music a space of resistance and hope.
Esquinas and Scudeller appear for the second time at LIFE Victoria as part of the Alicia de Larrocha Piano Series, dedicated to the outstanding Spanish pianist and dear friend of Victoria de los Ángeles.