Coffee Concerts

Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins

In contrast to their previous Schumann/Brahms concert, this wonderfully imaginative programme was exceptionally wide-ranging in time, style and forces. From solo violin and piano to full concerto, from Bach to Piazzola via Mozart, Purcell and Vaughan Williams, what might have seemed a bizarre mixture Continue reading Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins

Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor With Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Other Reviews

 

Joanna MacGregor’s habitual breaking of moulds, tearing-up of templates and radicalisation of routines should inspire and empower the Coffee Concerts after this arresting presentation. The new artistic director and conductor of Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, installed during the pandemic in September and yet to stage her first BPO concert, stepped loose from Continue reading Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor With Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Other Reviews

18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

J.S. Bach  (1685-1750) Harpsichord Concerto No 5 in F minor BWV 1056 (1738)Print/PDF

No tempo marking
Largo
Presto

This concerto is one of a set of six for single harpsichord and strings that Bach assembled in Leipzig around 1738-9. Little is known of their provenance or purpose, but some are clearly identical to earlier surviving concertos written for a different solo instrument such as violin or oboe. For example, No 3 in D is a transposition of the violin concerto in E – the shift down a tone allowing its top note to remain within the compass of contemporary harpsichords. Continue reading 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Coffee Concert 14th March 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins

These two works (symphonic in scale, complexity and concentration) demand a huge range of feeling and technical grasp which make it an achievement to include both in one concert. Joanna MacGregor and the Philharmonic’s strings, despite the necessary physical distancing, rose to the task with performances of sustained beauty and power.

The opening movements of both pieces demand great drive and forward movement. Chris Darwin’s Continue reading Coffee Concert 14th March 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins