Classical Music Summer Festival, Defilad Square

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Classical Music Summer Festival, Defilad Square. Fot. R.Motyl
Classical Music Summer Festival, Defilad Square. Fot. R.Motyl

The Transcriptions Classical Music Summer Festival is being held on Defilad Square. On each Sunday in August, we will listen to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and other compositions arranged for chamber ensembles. All the concerts are to start at 1 p.m. The entrance is free.

A transcription is an arrangement of a piece of music for ensembles other than for which it was originally provided. In the past, symphonic concerts used to be relatively rare and luxurious events. In order to become familiar with the hits of those times, many amateurs had to use transcriptions for the available instruments. Operas and symphonies were adapted for piano, guitar or chamber ensembles of various sizes. The programme of the festival is based on the “new testament” of classical music – nine symphonies by Beethoven in various arrangements for chamber ensembles. Some of them are historical, others contemporary, and several of them were arranged specifically for the festival.

Today, transcriptions are not totally necessary. However, they give us an opportunity to learn well-known compositions all over again. The reduction in the number of players pushes the author to difficult choices. He has to reach a compromise, and creativity must be unleashed. The result is an essence of the original, partly interpreted through history and partly through contemporariness.

Concert schedule

7th August
Symphony No. 6 in F major - arr. Fischer (1817)

14th August
Symphony No. 7 in A major - arr. Masecki and Pokrzywiński

21st August
Symphony No. 8 in F major - arr. Meyer (1864)

28th August
Symphony No. 9 in D major - arr. Masecki