The many-faceted Swiss town of Davos continues to provide a fitting backdrop to renowned literary, political and artistic personalities at the annual World Economic Forum. The striking musical offer of this summer’s Davos Festival was no exception.
Select concerts at this year’s festival were staged in the generously-proportioned Congress Centre, the annual meeting place of the WEF, where global decision-makers shape new chapters of history. In one event of the festival’s fine “Mythos Davos” programme, some dozen extraordinarily-gifted young musicians gave a recital that not only demonstrated sovereign musical achievements, but did so with a repertoire that was as diverse as it was enlightened.
Maurice Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet made a striking beginning to the concert. Marika Cecilia Riedl’s well-bodied, dreamy harp answered enquiries of the pizzicato cello and the superb ensemble that queried them both. In a sublime rendition of Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, Op.22, arranged here for flute, Kaisa Kortelainen showed as fine a control of breath technique as she did of subtle interpretation, and Julius Asal’s piano accompaniment was equally precise and compelling.
Next on the multi-faceted programme was Franz Schubert’s Der Lindenbaum in a compelling arrangement for clarinet (Andrzej Cieplinski) and piano (Julius Asal). The sheer grace with which it was delivered was a comfort, its lyrical qualities comparable to golden honey. In Robert Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro in A flat major for oboe and piano,” Natalia Auli and Dominic Chamot gave a performance marked by dynamic control and high drama. And the evening’s final musical offering was an absolute highlight, Trio Incendo’s masterful rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Trio no. 3 in C minor that simply took one’s breath away.
Reader Max Mühlhoff intermittently underscored the musical offerings with insightful texts that were either written in Davos, or penned by those inspired by it. A sobering excerpt from Albert Einstein’s Davos speech was of particular interest as, in 1928, he visited the village to found the so-called “Davoser Hochschulkurse”. Mühlhoff also read Das Grammophon, a humorous work by the German poet, Christian Morgenstern, and, mid-concert, read a spirited appeal by the outspoken environmentalist Greta Thunberg who, in 2020, was the youngest speaker ever to present at the WEF.
In short, this Davos Festival 2022 concert, which underscored the extraordinary talents of some dozen young musicians, was a polished and variable offer that deserves every accolade.
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