French Gems
Maurice Ravel: Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré
Camille Saint-Saëns: Oboe Sonata in D major, op. 166
Thomas Adès: Alchymia for clarinet quintet
Interval
André Messager: Solo de Concours for solo clarinet
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
French Gems
Maurice Ravel: Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré
Camille Saint-Saëns: Oboe Sonata in D major, op. 166
Thomas Adès: Alchymia for clarinet quintet
Interval
André Messager: Solo de Concours for solo clarinet
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
Friday Night in Paris
Roderick Williams and Ensemble 360
Musical national treasure Roderick Williams, soloist at King Charles III’s Coronation and Singer-in-Residence with Music in the Round, returns to the Crucible Playhouse with Ensemble 360 for a magical tour through the City of Light.
Fauré’s first Piano Quintet was a labour of love that he nurtured over many years, and the song cycles and works for violin he wrote alongside it echo through this exquisitely constructed piece.
Poulenc’s kaleidoscopic sextet encompasses jazz, ragtime, pastiche of Mozart and a tribute to Ravel, whose ‘Madagascan’ songs they follow, in this programme luxuriating in the many sounds of fin de siècle Paris.
Culminating in Fauré’s intricate song-cycle, crafted from the poems of Paul Verlaine, this concert reunites Ensemble 360, with Music in the Round’s singer-in-residence Roderick Williams for the first time since 2017.
Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quintet no. 1 in D minor, op. 89
Maurice Ravel: Chansons madécasses
Interval
Francis Poulenc: Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano in C major
Gabriel Fauré: La Bonne Chanson for Baritone, String Quintet and Piano
Close-Up: Music For Curious Young Minds
Five wind musicians and a very special guest breathe life into the wondrous world of chamber music. Created specially for young audiences, this concert combines well-known classical favourites with new works performed on flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, with singer Roderick Williams.
Ideal for 7–11 year-olds and their families.
Ensemble 360 and Steven Isserlis in Festival Finale
George Onslow: Nonet, op. 77
Gabriel Fauré: Elegie, op. 24
Interval
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky: String Sextet in D minor, op.70, Souvenir de Florence
A grand work for a grand finale: captivating charm and wit from George Onslow’s Nonet. Nicknamed the ‘French Beethoven’, this is a chance to hear one of his finest and largest-scale chamber works whose five movements move through an expressive array of moods from turbulence to a jubilant conclusion.
Steven Isserlis then joins pianist Tim Horton for a heartfelt lament by Gabriel Fauré, before we sign off with Tchaikovsky’s celebratory musical postcard, Souvenir de Florence. This hugely popular string sextet by the great Russian composer features both Steven Isserlis and Ensemble 360’s cellist Gemma Rosefield, and promises to be a fitting farewell to the Festival in our anniversary year.
Charles Villiers Stanford: Fantasy no. 1 for Clarinet and String Quartet
John Ireland: Sextet for Clarinet, Horn and String Quartet
Interval
Rebecca Clarke: Two pieces for Viola and Cello
Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, op. 115
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Quartet in E flat major, K. 493
Judith Bingham: Hodge, Dr. Johnson’s Cat (world première)
Interval talk by Laura Tunbridge – Professor of Music, Oxford University and author of Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet no. 13 in B flat major, op. 130
Francis Poulenc: Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano in C major
Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge
Interval
Franz Schubert:Three Songs for Bassoon and String Quintet arr. Iain Farrington
Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen (realisation for string septet by Rudolf Leopold)
The PMCF 10th anniversary celebration day at RWCMD begins with this mini-Schubertiade
Franz Schubert: Auf dem Strom D.943
Franz Schubert: Fantasy in C major for Violin and Piano, D. 934
Franz Schubert: The Shepherd on the Rock, D. 965
Maurice Ravel: Introduction and Allegro
Huw Watkins:
Richard Strauss, arr. D. Matthews: Capriccio Sextet and Closing scene with dramatisation by Sir David Pountney
The programme will include live performances of:
JP Jofre: Transcendence (for solo bandoneon)
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio no. 3 in C minor, op. 101 – slow movement
Pamela Harrison: Drifting Away for clarinet and piano
Franz Joseph Haydn: Piano Trio no. 32 in A major, Hob XV:18 – last movement
The Gould Piano Trio and Robert Plane, joint Artistic Directors of Corbridge Chamber Music Festival, talk about this year’s edition, live from The Bowes Museum on BBC Breakfast. They will also play:
Louise Farrenc: Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in E flat major, op. 44, Adagio
Bedřich Smetana: Piano Trio in G Minor, op. 15, Scherzo
Fanny Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, op.11
Herrmann Bernard: Souvenirs de voyage
Antonin Dvořák:String Quintet in G major, op.77
Nuevo Tango, with JP Jofre (bandoneon/composer) and the Corbridge Festival Musicians. Argentinian bandoneon sensaton entertains as composer and performer with his unique style of modern-day Tango.
Pierrot’s Moon
Debussy Pierrot
Kowalski Sonnen Ende
Marx Pierrot Dandy
Schumann Carnival Op.9 No.2 Pierrot
Korngold Tanzlied des Pierrot
Rebecca Clarke Midsummer Moon
Debussy Cello Sonata
Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire
Noche Americana
an evening of evocative music from, and inspired by, the Americas.
Our festival finale opens with one of Boccherini’s many string quintets (there are over a hundred!), a particularly vocal example which draws upon influences as diverse as Italian Opera and Spanish Fandango. We then draw together some of the threads of the 2024 Corbridge Festival, with Pierrot’s escapades graphically depicted by Thea Musgrave, and a final reminder of JP Joffre’s astonishing bandoneon playing in that classic of ‘Nuevo Tango’, Piazzolla’s ‘Libertango’. ‘I can’t tell you how moved I am by it, and powerfully gripped’ wrote Clara Schumann of Brahms’ Piano Quintet Op.34. Widely regarded as the jewel in the crown of Brahms’ chamber works, what better way to bring the 2024 Corbridge Chamber Music Festival to a rousing end?
Boccherini: String Quintet in D major G353 Thea Musgrave: Pierrot
Piazzolla: Libertango
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op.34
Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in G major, op. 54, no. 1
Judith Bingham: Elsewhere
Interval
Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, op. 115
Robert Schumann: Fantasiestücke for Clarinet and Piano, op. 73
Edwin York Bowen: Phantasie, op. 54
Robert Schumann: Märchenerzählungen, op. 132
Interval
Huw Watkins: Speak Seven Seas
Josef Holbrooke: Nocturne, op. 57, no. 1, Fairyland
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E flat major, K. 498, Kegelstatt
Arcangelo Corelli, arr. Derek Smith: Concerto Grosso in F Op. 6 No. 2
Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet no. 36 in B flat major, op. 50, no.1, Hob. III/44
Benjamin Britten: Three Divertimenti
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581
Pavel Haas: Suite for Oboe and Piano, op.17
Leos Janáček: In the Mists
Interval
Pavel Haas: Wind Quintet, op. 10
Leos Janáček: Mládí (Youth) for Wind Sextet
Sergei Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, op. 34
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581
Interval
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, op. 44
Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21
Giddy Goat