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Coffee Concert 18th November 2018 – Jacquin Trio – Review by Andrew Polmear

A lovely brisk day, sunlight filling ACCA’s café, an engaging brief talk by Jessie Grimes: everything augured well for this concert by the Jacquin Trio. Yet I found myself slightly thrown for a moment or two. It was partly that Schumann opens his Märchenerzählungen with quirky little Continue reading Coffee Concert 18th November 2018 – Jacquin Trio – Review by Andrew Polmear

18th November 2018 – Jacquin Trio – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Märchenerzählungen Op 132. (‘Fairy-tale tellings’) for clarinet, viola & piano (1853)

Lebhaft, nicht zu schnell
Lebhaft und sehr markirt
Ruhiges Tempo, mit zartem Ausdruck
Lebhaft, sehr markirt

In September 1853, the 20-year old Johannes Brahms arrived unannounced at Robert and Clara Schumann’s house bearing an introduction from their mutual friend the violinist Joseph Joachim. Robert Schumann’s mental health was deteriorating, but Brahms’ arrival stimulated Schumann to new compositions: a happy collaboration between Schumann, Brahms and Schumann’s close friend Albert Dietrich produced the triple-authored F-A-E violin sonata dedicated to Joachim, and then in three days from 9 – 11 October 1853 Schumann wrote Märchenerzählungen which he dedicated to Dietrich. ‘Predominantly cheerful pieces, written with a light heart’ he told his publisher. The tautological title ‘Fairy-tale tellings’ stands in contrast to his Märchenbilder (‘Fairy-tale pictures’) for viola and piano written four years earlier. Continue reading 18th November 2018 – Jacquin Trio – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Coffee Concert 21st October 2018 – Marmen Quartet – Review by Richard Amey, Worthing Herald

Enlightenment from inside a darkened room. It was given by Johannes Marmen to a large proportion of the Coffee Concerts audience, of whom 205 turned out early on Sunday to hear his young group make their debut in the series.

Such a high Continue reading Coffee Concert 21st October 2018 – Marmen Quartet – Review by Richard Amey, Worthing Herald

Coffee Concert 21st October 2018 – Marmen Quartet – Review by Andrew Polmear

What joy to be restarting another coffee concert series, on an unusually warm October morning with golden leaves falling in bright sunshine. The Marmen Quartet is new to us, having formed as recently as 2013 at the Royal College of Music. They gave an extraordinary Continue reading Coffee Concert 21st October 2018 – Marmen Quartet – Review by Andrew Polmear