Coffee Concerts

24th March 2019 – Aquinas Trio – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Piano Trio in E, Hob. XV:28 (1797)

Allegro moderato
Allegretto
Finale. Allegro

It is easy to undervalue Haydn’s Piano Trios. The string parts often double the keyboard and generally lack the independence found later, say in Beethoven. But for much of his piano trio output, Haydn’s hands were tied by the underpowered keyboards that he was writing for – doubling of the weak keyboard bass line was a necessity. Viewed on their own terms as ‘keyboard sonatas with string accompaniment’, we can enjoy their virtues rather than wishing they were Beethoven. Continue reading 24th March 2019 – Aquinas Trio – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Coffee Concert 24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet with Daniel Lebhardt – Strings Attached Review by Andrew Polmear

Anyone heading for the Attenborough Centre this Sunday looking forward to the Castalian Quartet playing some old favourites – Haydn, Elgar and Brahms – would have been disappointed. A notice in the foyer warned that Daniel Roberts, second violin, was unable to play (a trapped nerve rendered him unable to lift his left arm) and that changes to the programme would be necessary. As it turned out we still got the Brahms piano quintet Opus 34, thanks to the excellent Benjamin Baker on second violin, but instead of Haydn and Elgar Continue reading Coffee Concert 24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet with Daniel Lebhardt – Strings Attached Review by Andrew Polmear

Coffee Concert 24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet with Daniel Lebhardt – Other reviews

 

Sini Simonen (first violin), Benjamin Baker deputising for Daniel Roberts (second violin), Charlotte Bonneton (viola), Christopher Graves (cello). With Daniel Lebhardt (piano).

First half: Schubert String Trio in Bb D471, Mozart String Duo in G K 423, Beethoven String Trio in C minor Opus 9 No 3 – deputising for Haydn Quartet in C Opus 20 No 2, Elgar Quartet in E minor Opus 83. Second half: Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor Op 34.

A trapped nerve Continue reading Coffee Concert 24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet with Daniel Lebhardt – Other reviews

24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Josef Haydn (1732-1809) String Quartet Op. 20 No. 2 in C (1772)

Moderato
Capriccio: Adagio
Menuet: Allegretto
Fuga a quattro soggetti: Allegro

Writing in four parts had been recognised both in theory and practice as the bedrock of string music long before the 1750s when Haydn started to compose string quartets. But four-part string music then had a variety of forms, none of which we would recognise as a ‘string quartet’ and was predominantly based on a basso continuo cello with optional keyboard, or was a light keyboard-less divertimento. The 18-year-old Haydn got into writing for a quartet of strings thanks to one Baron Fürnberg, who asked him to write something to be played at his place at Weinzierl in the Wachau valley. The four musicians were the local pastor, his estate manager, Haydn and the cellist brother of the Johann Albrechtsberger who later taught Beethoven composition. The resulting Op 1 & 2 quartets were still, both in name and form, divertimenti. Continue reading 24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Strings Attached Review by Andrew Polmear

Word must have got out that something special was going to take place; the Attenborough Centre was fuller than we have ever seen it for a Coffee Concert. The Doric have played in Brighton before and been superb. There has been a change since the last time Continue reading Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Strings Attached Review by Andrew Polmear

Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Other reviews

 

Are we in a golden era of the string quartet concert? I can’t speak for nationwide but the Brighton Coffee Concerts sound and taste even better than they smell at 11 o’clock in the morning. It’s not just the ever soaring quality of the younger quartets’ playing. It’s what they choose to programme, then deliver.

Mind you, this audience Continue reading Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Other reviews