Ssens Trio

The Ssens Trio sets out on a journey from the beginnings of the central European chamber music tradition to its last living personification, György Kurtág.

The concert opens with a rare chance to hear a string trio from the ‘father of chamber music’ Joseph Haydn. The composer’s Op 53 is the embodiment of good musical conversation – genial, lively but full of the surprises with which Haydn keeps listeners on their toes. Expect music with lifelike character and flirtatious charm.

Ludwig van Beethoven needed only look to his colleague Haydn to see that music could be jovial and serious all at once. Beethoven couldn’t write light-hearted music without lacing it with subversive gestures, which only makes his Op 8 Serenade more affable. Listen out for a slow movement invaded by jokes, a march that can’t be suppressed and an early sign of the Fifth Symphony’s ‘da-da-da-daaa’ motif.

In between two big beasts of the First Viennese School come two musical giants of our time. György Kurtág is at his most powerful when he’s at his shortest, quietest and simplest – as in his collection of minute-long musical aphorisms, Signs, Games and Messages. Here, Kurtág’s pregnant fragments form preludes to a world premiere by Poul Ruders, the Danish composer whose music combines charm and discipline like no other.

Image on top: Ssens Trio, photo by Bård Gundersen

Contributors

• Sølve Sigerland violin

• Henninge Landaas viola

• Ellen Margrete Flesjø cello 

Works

• Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
  Trio i G major, op. 53 no. 1

• György Kurtág (1926–)
  Signs, Games and Messages (excerpts)

• Poul Ruders (1949–)
  Beyond the Seven Veils of Unreality
  World premiere

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
  Serenade, op. 8

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