Recuerdos Elfenau Kultursommer

About the programme

Some tours leave lasting memories. In early October 2001, CAMERATA BERN set off on its first concert tour to South America. Over two weeks, the ensemble performed in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Rosario and Buenos Aires. A quarter of a century later, ensemble member Martin Merker is unearthing not only the music the ensemble played in South America, but also the music it brought back home.

Framed by two movements from Joseph Haydn's Divertimento in E flat major, the programme focuses on music by South American composers of three generations: the Argentinians Astor Piazzolla and José Bragato, and two Brazilian composers still living today, Ernani Aguiar and Arthur Barbosa. Preceding them is the Moderato from Antonín Dvořák's String Serenade, one of the best-loved pieces in the string ensemble repertoire. At the heart of the concert, Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck provides a moment of calm, like a mild, thoroughly Central European summer night.