Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola | Prague Spring 2023

Monsieur de SAINTE-COLOMBE le père: Concert à deux violes esgales „Le Retour“
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Duo for Violin and Viola in G major KV 423
György KURTÁG: Szigoruan magánlevél a 80 évesnek from Signs, Games and Messages
György KURTÁG: Ligatura Y from Signs, Games and Messages
Bohuslav MARTINŮ: Three Madrigals (Duo No. 1) for violin and viola, H 313
Monsieur de SAINTE-COLOMBE le père: Concert à deux violes esgales „Le Tendre“
György KURTÁG: Vie silencieuse – Franz Emlékére from Signs, Games and Messages
György KURTÁG: ... eine Blume für Tabea ... from Signs, Games and Messages
Monsieur de SAINTE-COLOMBE le père: Concert à deux violes esgales „Tombeau Les Regrets“
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Duo for Violin and Viola in B major KV 424

Antoine Tamestit (viola), Artist-in-Residence
Isabelle Faust (violin)

At his closing performance, Prague Spring Artist-in-Residence Antoine Tamestit will join forces with German violinist Isabelle Faust. “It’s such a great pleasure to collaborate with Isabelle on a regular basis. We have played together on numerous occasions and we have grown closer to one another musically; we have learned from each other and we provide mutual inspiration. She has such a unique sound, and such a unique personality!,” states Tamestit, full of praise for his co-performer. Together they invite us to their intimate programme of music by Baroque master Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, celebrated in the film Tous les matins du monde, also works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bohuslav Martinů and contemporary Hungarian composer György Kurtág. Visitors to the Rudolfinum’s Dvořák Hall will thus have the opportunity to hear the performance of two top-tier artists in their field and to experience up close the sound of two instruments crafted by the legendary Italian string instrument maker Antonio Stradivari.

“Isabelle Faust’s playing is about intimacy as well. The exploration of depth and beauty on the basis of an almost eternal breath is enchanting and this greatly affects the audience. She shows how rich simplicity can be,” wrote Maximilian Maier in Münchner Merkur. She is also etched in the memory of Prague Spring visitors thanks to the unforgettable concert she gave in 2019, during which she performed the complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. “Isabelle Faust elicited a rare sense of absolute unity with the music,” stated Jiří Slabihoudek in his review of the concert for the KlasikaPlus website. The artist, who collaborates with some of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors, is currently Artist-in-Residence at Vienna’s Musikverein.

She plays a Stradivarius dating from around the year 1704 which, due to its complex history, bears the name Sleeping Beauty. The violin was purchased during the 18^th century by a German aristocratic family, at whose residence it “slept”, forgotten, until the end of the 19^th century, after which time it lay in a bank vault for a further 80 years. The instrument was rediscovered and purchased for Isabelle Faust in 1995. “I played for half an hour on the violin and it was really quite striking. There were certain notes on the four strings – unique notes – which sounded like heaven to me. These notes touched me profoundly: I had never heard this before,” Faust declared.

More information: https://festival.cz/en/koncerty/faust-tamestit/