Coffee Concert 29th April 2018 Quatuor Arod – Review by Andrew Polmear

When you set out to go to a concert featuring well-known quartets by Haydn and Beethoven, you might be forgiven for thinking that you know what to expect. With Quatuor Arod you would be wrong. They take well-known pieces and play them as though Continue reading Coffee Concert 29th April 2018 Quatuor Arod – Review by Andrew Polmear

29th April 2018 – Quatuor Arod – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Josef Haydn (1732-1809) String Quartet in G (minor) Op 74/3, ‘Rider’ (1793)

Allegro
Largo assai
Menuet and Trio
Finale: Allegro con brio

Haydn’s six ‘Apponyi‘ quartets (Ops 71 and 74) were written in 1792 & 1793 between his two extended visits to London. Prince Nicholas Esterházy, Haydn’s patron to whom he was devoted, had died in the autumn of 1790. His successor, Prince Anton, did not care for music and disbanded the Esterházy orchestra, for whom Haydn had composed for the previous 30 or so years. However, he did keep Haydn on, on full pay, with only nominal duties. Haydn was thus free to apply for leave to accept Johann Peter Salomon’s offer to spend a year in London (against Mozart’s advice, who thought the 58 year-old master too old for such jaunts). London’s crowded, vibrant musical scene challenged and exhilarated Haydn, and his six new ‘London‘ symphonies, written for a larger orchestra, hall and audience than at Esterházy, were a sensation. Haydn returned home in the summer of 1792, to a Vienna without Mozart, who had died in December just short of his 35th birthday. Continue reading 29th April 2018 – Quatuor Arod – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Coffee Concert 25th March 2018 – Review by Richard Amey, Worthing Herald

A few weeks ago on BBC Radio 3’s Record Review, a Saturday morning, there was music for piano, violin and cello by Takemitsu. A Japanese composer, long influential over European composers, gently telling us of his homeland’s serene beauty, and encouraging Western ears to tune into its physical and emotional ambience, in a piece called Between Tides.

Presenter Andrew McGregor noted special qualities Continue reading Coffee Concert 25th March 2018 – Review by Richard Amey, Worthing Herald

Coffee Concert 25th March 2018 – Review by Andrew Polmear

Coffee Concert 25 March 2018 Trio Isimsiz

What an interesting programme! They have taken two of the great Romantic composers, most of whose works penetrate to the heart of what it means to be human, and played some of their lightest, most joyful work. From these pieces you wouldn’t know Continue reading Coffee Concert 25th March 2018 – Review by Andrew Polmear