RODEWALD CONCERT SOCIETY

 

 
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Copyright 2004- 2005 RCS

The Belcea Quartet

Founded in 1994, the Belcea Quartet is at the forefront of the new generation of British quartets. Currently in residence at London's Wigmore Hall, the Belcea has won many String Quartet Competitions and was awarded Gramophone's debut recording prize in 2001. 'Deliciously sweet tones, perfect tuning and uncanny timing. To die for.' (The Times, 2003)

Two of the quartets in this programme were written for cellists - Haydn's delightful Op.50 for King Frederick Wilhelm II of Prussia in 1786, and Beethoven's heartfelt Op.132 for Prince Nikolai Golitsin, a Russian aristocrat, in 1825. As a result, both quartets feature prominent solo passages for the cello. Mendelssohn's Op.44 contains two gems - a quicksilver scherzo, which might remind you of his music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a wonderfully lyrical 'Song Without Words'.

The Endellion String Quartet

Tuesday 23 November 2004 7.30 pm

Haydn Quartet Op.33 No.3 in C 'The Bird'

Schubert Quartet No.13 in A minor 'Rosamunde'

Tchaikovsky Quartet No.1 in D, Op.11

The Endellion Quartet is one of the finest in the world, illustrated by their numerous performances, broadcasts and award-winning recordings. 'The Endellion Quartet has forged a distinct performing style based not just on an impressive technical mastery of a wide-ranging repertory but also on an incontrovertible sense of style and - perhaps above all - on the fact that the players so obviously relish playing … The chemistry has worked … thrilling' (Daily Telegraph)

Haydn's charming Op.33 No.3 gained its nickname from the likeness of some of its themes to birdsong, though the finale is a rollicking Slavic dance. Schubert's wistful Quartet No.13 revisits the incidental music he wrote for the play Rosamunde. Composed during a difficult period in Tchaikovsky's life, his Quartet No.1 is nevertheless a work of great beauty - the unforgettable Andante cantabile slow movement is one of his most popular creations.

Sonnerie

Tuesday 11 January 2005 7.30pm

Biber: Sonatas Nos.11-15 'The Glorious Mysteries'

Biber: Sonata No.16: Passacaglia for Solo Violin in G minor from 'The Rosary Sonatas'

J.S. Bach: Sonata No.4 for Violin and Harpsichord in C minor

J.S. Bach: Sonata Sonata No.2 for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord in D Sonata

J.S. Bach: Sonata No.3 for Violin and Harpsichord in E

Sonnerie, led by the world renowned Baroque violinist Monica Huggett, is one of the most imaginative, flexible and dynamic period instrument ensembles in the country. Their recent CD of Biber won a Gramophone Award. 'Polished and sophisticated performances … There is a great deal of subtle timing, graceful shaping and delicately moulded detail, as well as a happy sense of the musical logic … You won't often hear this music more attentively, more lovingly played.' (Gramophone, 2004)

A wonderful programme featuring some of the finest chamber music by two of the titans of Baroque music. Heinrich Biber was a virtuoso violinist and an inspired and boldly experimental composer. In 'The Glorious Mysteries', from a dazzlingly difficult series of violin sonatas drawing on the fifteen mysteries of the Virgin Mary, the sound of the violin is transformed by tuning it in various different ways. The viola da gamba (bass viol) was one of Bach's favourite instruments, and his Sonata No.2 shows off its mellow but agile tone to great effect.

Trio Wanderer

The young French musicians of Trio Wanderer have performed together to great critical acclaim for thirteen years. 'It was clear from the outset that the Trio Wanderer's recital was to be very special … They have a near-telepathic musical sensibility … In short, an awe-inspiring evening.' (The Strad)

At the heart of Brahms's charming Trio No.1 is a chorale-like slow movement of great luminosity. Originally conceived for piano solo in 1840, Tristia is Liszt's own transcription for violin, cello and piano. As befits its inspiration in a Romantic novel, it is a journey from melancholy through yearning to final triumph. Composed in 1928, only a few years before the annihilation of this way of life, Vitebsk is a powerful portrayal of Jewish life in an Eastern European town. The call of the shofar, a ceremonial ram's horn, heralds a Belarussian folk melody, which gives way to a frenetic dance. Amid the glittering textures and sumptuous harmonies of Ravel's jewel-like Trio, written during World War I, there are enticing glimpses of Basque and Spanish music.

Nikolai Demidenko piano

Tuesday 8 March 2005 7.30pm

Bach-Busoni

Chopin Polonaise-fantaisie in A-flat, Op.61

Chopin Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58

Nikolai Demidenko studied at the Moscow Conservatoire with Dmitri Bashkirov. A medallist in the 1976 Montreal and 1978 Tchaikovsky international competitions, he made his British debut in 1985 with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Today, one of the world's leading concert pianists, Nikolai Demidenko has been resident in the UK since 1990. 'His extraordinary intimacy with the piano, which withholds no secrets of keyboard brilliance or expressive colouring from him, maximises the potential in the scoring, however modest or extravagant, of whatever he chooses to play'. (The Times)

Nikolai Demidenko's favourite pianist is Ferruccio Busoni, whose many transcriptions of J.S. Bach's keyboard music for the modern piano are amazingly colourful and inventive. 'Demidenko's performances capture the smouldering long lines and Gothic grandeur inherent in Busoni's transformations of the originals.' (International Record Review) Chopin's sublime Polonaise-fantaisie of 1846 moves beyond the boundaries of the polonaise, intertwining themes amidst impressionistic harmonies in a mood of profound mystery. His expansive Sonata No.3 dates from the summer of 1844. The light, dazzling Scherzo contrasts with an effortlessly poised nocturne-like Largo and a Finale of uncompromising power.

The Vertavo Quartet

Wednesday 13 April 2005 7.30pm

Beethoven Quartet Op.18 No.4 in C minor

Per Nørgård Quartet No.8 'Night Descending'

Sibelius Quartet Op.56 in D minor 'Voces Intimae'

The Vertavo Quartet have firmly established themselves as one of the most exciting ensembles of today. Despite being in their early thirties, the members of the Vertavo Quartet first got together in Oslo in 1984. The Quartet first captured international attention when they won no less than four awards (including the First Prize) at the 2nd Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in 1995. In the years that followed, they went on to receive several prizes, including the Nordic Chamber Music Prize (1996), the Critics' Prize from the Norwegian press (1996), a nomination for the Nordic Council's Culture Award in 1998 and the Nordea prize in 2003. The all-female Quartet, winner of numerous awards, has performed at many prestigious European festivals. 'Norway's Vertavo Quartet are fast establishing themselves as one of the freshest and most versatile young quartets around … what impresses most is the integrity and imagination they bring to their playing.' (The Guardian)

Beethoven's Op.18 No.4, from his first collection of quartets (1801), shares both the key of his Symphony No.5 and its mood, which is passionate, withdrawn and tumultuous by turn. Then north to Scandinavia, the Vertavo Quartet's home. Per Nørgård, born in 1932, is Denmark's foremost living composer. His Quartet No.8, composed in 1997, is linked to his opera Nuit des homme, which charts a couple's increasing disaffection with the First World War. Sibelius's Op.56 - the subtitle means 'Intimate Voices' - is his only mature quartet. If you know any of his symphonies you will recognise the long-drawn, arching melodies, the rustling accompaniments and the rousing climaxes that form the substance of this truly Romantic work.