Programme Notes

14th November 2021 – Joanna MacGregor Piano With Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Frank Martin (1890 – 1974) Trio on Popular Irish Folk Tunes (1925)Print/PDF
Allegro moderato
Adagio
Gigue

Frank Martin was born in Geneva, the tenth child of a Calvinist, Huguenot pastor; this Christian background particularly influenced his large-scale theatrical and choral works. Much of his chamber music was written in the 1920s and 30s during which time he was heavily involved in the Geneva Chamber Music Society that he had founded. Today’s Trio comes from early in this period. His most individual music, however, started to emerge in the mid-1930s when he developed his own more tonal and rhythmically energetic variety of Schoenberg’s 12-tone system. Continue reading 14th November 2021 – Joanna MacGregor Piano With Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

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

14th March 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Piano Quartet in E♭ Op 47 (1842)Print/PDF

Sostenuto assai — Allegro ma non troppo
Scherzo. Molto vivace
Andante cantabile
Finale. Vivace

Coming after his ‘Liederjahre’ of 1840 and the subsequent ‘Symphonic Year’ of 1841, 1842 was Schumann’s ‘Chamber Music Year’: three string quartets, the particularly successful piano quintet and today’s piano quartet. Such creativity may have been initiated by Schumann at last winning, in July 1840, the protracted legal case in which his ex-teacher Friedrich Wieck, attempted to forbid him from marrying Wieck’s daughter, the piano virtuoso Clara. They were married on 12 September 1840, the day before Clara’s 21st birthday. Continue reading 14th March 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

22nd November 2020 – Gildas Quartet with Joanna MacGregor – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Gildas Quartet with Joanna MacGregor (piano)

Print/PDFLive-streamed from Brighton Dome 22 Nov 2020

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Quartettsatz in C minor, D.703 (1820)

Allegro assai Continue reading 22nd November 2020 – Gildas Quartet with Joanna MacGregor – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

22nd March 2020 – Aronowitz Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) String Trio in B flat major, D. 471 (1816)

Allegro

The autumn of 1814 was the start of one of the most extraordinary burgeonings of creativity music has ever seen. Over 15 months, the teenage Schubert not only produced around 150 songs (including Gretchen am Spinnrade and Erlkönig), but also Continue reading 22nd March 2020 – Aronowitz Ensemble – Programme notes by Chris Darwin