Date and Time
Sat, 8th Feb, 2025 at 18:00 - 20:00
Trio Recital with Henry Lewis, Matthew Hunt and George Strivens.
French Horn player George Strivens enjoys a diverse career of solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. Recent engagements include Oxford Lieder Festival, Penarth Chamber Music Festival, Ludlow English Song Weekend, and Strauss’ Horn Concerto no.2 with Macclesfield Symphony Orchestra.
An artist with a reputation for his original and thoughtful approach, Henry Lewis is a pianist active internationally as a soloist and chamber musician.
One of Europe’s leading clarinettists, Matthew Hunt is a distinctive musician, renowned for the vocal quality of his playing and his ability to communicate with audiences. Matthew enjoys an international career as both soloist and chamber musician.
This varied programme opens with four pieces from a late work composed in 1910 by the German Romantic composer Max Bruch. These are engaging character pieces, and the composer’s intention was that they should be performed either separately or in small groups rather than as a complete set. The work by Schubert which follows, originally composed for voice, horn and piano (with clarinet replacing the voice here, as it often does) comes from the final year of Schubert’s short life and is a tribute to Beethoven, who had died the previous year: this is a poignant distillation of heartrending beauty. The first half ends with another very late work, written in the final year of Saint-Saëns’ life. Lyricism, buoyancy, gentleness and virtuosity are all in evidence in the course of its four movements.
The Beethoven Sonata which begins the second half is a comparatively early composition, dating from 1800, inspired by a leading horn player of the day and written for the valveless natural horn. Arresting right from its fanfare opening, this is a life-enhancing work in three movements. The concert ends with a beautifully crafted work of beguiling sonority by Reinecke, written in 1905 (again, a late work): among its four movements is a German fairytale. This is a Trio of great transparency.
Programme:
Max Bruch Op 83 for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano (nos. 1, 2, 5, 6)
Franz Schubert Auf dem Strom D 943 arr. for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano
Camille Saint-Saëns Sonate pour Clarinette et Piano op. 167
Interval
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata for Horn and Piano op. 17
Carl Reinecke Trio for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano op. 274
Tickets £20
Free to anyone in full time education or carers.
Bar and doors open 5.30 concert starts at 6.00 pm