29 October 2017

Touching Bass

Tring Chamber Music

Mozart Oboe Quartet K370
Westhoff Imitation of Bells
Bottesini Elegy for double bass
Mozart Adagio for cor anglais and string trio K580a
Britten Phantasy Quartet for oboe and strings
Bottesini Gran Duo Concertante for violin and double bass, oboe and strings

This is high end entertainment, with several of the pieces featuring a virtuoso double bass, played for us by the Hallé Principal Roberto Carrillo-Garcia 

Roberto is married to our oboist (from the Manchester Camerata); three of the other musicians are from one family. And for audience members too this is likewise a family concert – bring your musical children and grandchildren: you won’t regret it. There'll be no programme notes: the introductions will all be part of the enjoyment!

Tring Chamber Music: Roberto Carrillo-Garcia, double bass; Rachael Clegg, oboe, cor anglais; Paul and Francesca Barritt, violins; Josephine Horder, cello

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26 November 2017

Melvyn Tan: Piano Trio Masterpieces

Ning Kam, Katherine Jenkinson, Melvyn Tan

Mendelssohn Piano Trio no 1 in D minor op 49
Brahms Piano trio no 2 in C major op 87
Ravel Piano Trio

Three masterpieces of the piano trio genre – think of the virtuoso piano excitement of the Mendelssohn, the grandeur of the Brahms and the impressionistic poetry of the Ravel 

To play these marvellous pieces we have musicians in demand worldwide, all with huge critical and public acclaim and needing no further introductions for Oxford audiences.

Ning Kam, violin; Katherine Jenkinson, cello; Melvyn Tan, piano

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21 January 2018

Schubert & Different Trains

Bingham String Quartet

Reich Different Trains
Crumb Black Angels
Schubert String Quartet in A minor Rosamunde D804

The Bingham is one of the most innovative of UK string quartets, venturing where not all ensembles choose or dare to go so we are particularly excited to have in the Reich and Crumb two ‘Bingham classics’. Their performance of the first of Schubert’s three late, great quartets will be immensely satisfying 

Steve Reich’s Different Trains from 1988 compares his childhood American train journeys with contemporary ones of the Holocaust trains, using taped recordings of spoken interviews and train sounds to accompany the relentless motion of the strings. George Crumb’s Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land of 1970 was his protest against the Vietnam War. The four instruments, played with all manner of extended techniques, are electronically amplified and the players also whisper and shout and play percussion instruments. A challenging afternoon, though for some the highlight of our season.

Bingham String Quartet: Steve Bingham, violin, Marina Gillam, violin, Brenda Stewart, viola, James Halsey, cello

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11 February 2018

Mozart, Janáček & Smetana

Škampa String Quartet

Mozart String Quartet in C Dissonance K465
Janáček String Quartet no 1 Kreutzer Sonata
Smetana String Quartet no 1 From my life

When the Škampa played for us in 2016 no one wanted to go home, so we’ve invited them to play for us again. Here they are with another wonderful programme.  

Firstly, one of Mozart's quartets dedicated to Haydn – and, despite the nickname (only applicable to the 22 bar introduction), one of his most cheerfully enjoyable chamber works. Janáček's compassionate view of the unnamed victim in Tolstoy's unsettling novella follows – and few quartets play this work as intensely as the Škampa. Smetana’s masterpiece, the first of the Czech nationalist quartets, is also one of their most famous interpretations: a largely happy life, a largely happy work – until the onset of deafness.

Škampa String Quartet: Helena Jiříkovská, violin, Adéla Štajnochrová, violin, Martin Stupka, viola, Lukáš Polák, cello

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4 March 2018

Beethoven, Brahms & Rachmaninov

Reinhardt Ensemble

Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in G minor op 19
Beethoven Clarinet Trio in B flat Gassenhauer op 11
Brahms Clarinet Trio in A minor op 114

A new ensemble, but with experienced musicians, including the brilliant clarinettist Anna Hashimoto, who has earned worldwide praise 

Elena Kiseleva and Tatiana Chernyshova, who both began their training in Moscow, begin with the greatest of Romantic cello sonatas, the epic by Rachmaninov – this music will flow out of them. They are then joined by Anna in what should be enthralling performances of early Beethoven (the irresistible Street Song Trio) and late Brahms, wintry rather than autumnal, but very beautiful.

Reinhardt Ensemble: Anna Hashimoto, clarinet, Elena Kiseleva, piano, Tatiana Chernyshova, cello

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22 April 2018

Mozart Quintet & Mendelssohn Octet

12 ensemble

Mozart String Quintet in G minor K516
Dobrinka Tabakova Insight
Mendelssohn Octet in E flat op 20

Founded in 2012 by violinist Eloisa-Fleur Thom and cellist Max Ruisi, London-based 12 ensemble has now acquired an international reputation. We are delighted to welcome three quarters of them (including Eloisa-Fleur and Max) in what will be a treat for string lovers 

We start with a quintet, moreover arguably the greatest ever written, and felt by posterity to be one of Mozart's most self-revealing works. There follows a trio by Dobrinka Tabakova, one of today's foremost young composers. Contemporary in its idiom but richly tonal in its harmonic structure, 'Insight' brings a fresh perspective to the nature of the string trio. All eight musicians will then crowd the stage (standing) for the Mendelssohn Octet, a work of youthful genius, life-enhancing, exhilarating – the best possible ending to the season.

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 2017/18 SEASON PAST CONCERTS

8 October 2017

SextetFest

London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble

Strauss Prelude from Capriccio
Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht
Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence

The London Mozart Players, founded in 1949, was the first British chamber orchestra, and it remains alive and well. Six of their members bring a richly Romantic programme in which one will be able to revel in the all richness and subtleties conjured by great pieces for string sextet expertly played 

Strauss's last opera is a nostalgic, idealised journey back to a civilised Europe in time of war; Schoenberg’s impassioned fin de siècle extended tone poem is heard here in its original version, as is Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir – not a musical travelogue at all, but an almost symphonic four movement reverie, joyful and reflective, on an indelible experience for the troubled Russian master.

Programme notes for this concert

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