Glière double up!

First, a cheerful Vivace, that leads the thought to Tchaikovsky:

Andante - with wonderfully singing, deep tones! 

Another Andante, now for violins and with lots of romantic melancholy:

Finally, a festive Vivace!

 Although Glière's name sounds French, he was actually born in 1875 in the then Russian czardom, in the city of Kiev present day Ukraine by parents of German background and has nothing to do with neither France nor Belgium (по Рузский: Рейнгольд Морицевич Глиэр). Maybe it was easier not to be associated with Germany, maybe it was because of the Francophile fashion trends in Russia at that time - at least Reinhold Moritzewitsch changed his last name from Glier to Glière around 1900.

As the incredible talent he was, Glière adopted almost all the styles of the time and used them in his works. Therefore, it is hard to say whether he belongs to the Impressionists, the national romanticists, the typical early Soviet composers or anything else - he had a bit of it all. 

However, all the works here in the newsletter are from a rather national-romantic period, namely the year 1909 after a long stay in Berlin (in fact Glière lived not far from Martin's apartment in the Berlin district of Schöneberg!). There are very typical Russian twists in the harmonies as well as quite some folkloristic elements to be found. 

Glière was quite productive and generally happy to write chamber music - besides the duos for violin and cello he has written for two violins and two cellos respectively. Irresistible! So I decided to send a small selection from both Op. 49 with two violins and Op. 53 with two cellos!

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As always - if you like the letter please pass it on to a friend so we can spread the joy in these concertless corona times. You can sign up by sending me an email.

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That was all for now - stay healthy and cheerful and enjoy the sun and the early summer.
Over and out,

Luiza

P.S. A big thank you for watching us play the livestream on the 31st of May 2020 with Glière Duos! We had about 100 people in the live audience and many more afterwards, thank you so much! If you want to hear the concert but missed it you can still watch it here.