October 15, Wigmore Hall
Ralph Vaughan Williams Anniversary concert
7.00pm
with Alessandro Fisher (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), Simon Crawford-Phillips & Philip Moore (piano), Stephen Waarts (violin), Adrian Brendel (cello)
Vaughan Williams: Nocturne and Scherzo for string quintet (1906)
Arnold Bax: Elegiac Trio for flute, viola & harp
Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge for tenor, piano and string quartet
Frank Bridge: Phantasy Piano Quartet in F sharp minor
Vaughan Williams: Six Studies on English Folk Tunes for cello & piano
Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs for baritone, piano & string quartet
Vaughan Williams: Phantasy String Quintet
Elgar: Salut d'amour, La capricieuse, Sospiri for violin & piano
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music for 2 pianos and 16 singers
 Alessandro Fisher |
 Roderick Williams |
 Simon Crawford-Phillips |
 Philip Moore |
 Adrian Brendel |
In 1810, E.T.A. Hoffman proclaimed that "Beethoven's music awakens that endless longing which is the very essence of Romanticism." The Nash Ensemble traces the echoes of that longing through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, and from Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden, to Prague, Moscow, and St Petersburg.
November 19, Wigmore Hall
with Roderick Williams (baritone), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano), Timothy Ridout (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello), Richard Hosford (clarinet)
4.30pm
Beethoven and the Romantics
An introduction to the series by writer, lecturer & broadcaster Katy Hamilton
5.30pm
Beethoven: Clarinet Trio in B flat, Op.11
Max Bruch: Andante and Romanian Melody from 8 Pieces Op.83 for clarinet, viola & piano
Mendelssohn: Concert Piece in F minor Op.113 for clarinet, basset horn & piano
It was Mozart who first opened musicians’ ears to the possibilities of the clarinet. Three pieces by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Bruch follow his lead and take us on a musical journey from classical Vienna to pre-war Berlin.
7.30pm
Beethoven: Quintet in E flat Op.16 for piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon & horn
Alma Mahler: Songs for voice and piano
Gustav Mahler: Songs for voice and piano
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A, D667 "Trout"
Whether composed for wind instruments or strings, the piano quintets of Beethoven and Schubert celebrate the genial salon world of Viennese society. Songs by Gustav and Alma Mahler evoke the intimate moods of the Austrian capital a century later.
Roderick Williams |
Simon Crawford-Phillips |
 Adrian Brendel |  Richard Hosford |
December 10, Wigmore Hall
Beethoven and the Romantics
with Evelina Dobračeva (soprano), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano), Alasdair Beatson (piano), Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Adrian Brendel (cello), Richard Hosford (clarinet)
5.30pm
Clara Schumann: Three Romances Op.22 for violin & piano
Robert Schumann: Three Fantasy Pieces Op.73 for clarinet & piano
Fanny Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D major, Op.11
The Romantic cultivation of genius was a male affair, and Felix Mendelssohn once claimed that his talented younger sister, Fanny, had "neither inclination nor vocation for authorship." Works by Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann amply disprove such condescension.
7.30pm
Beethoven: Piano Trio in E flat, Op.70 No.2
Tchaikovsky: Songs for voice and piano
Rachmaninov: Songs for voice and piano
Musorgsky: Songs for voice and piano
Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A, Op.81
For Tchaikovsky, Beethoven's music evoked "an ideal world of eternal beauty and harmony." Songs by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Mussorgsky show how Russian composers looked to German composers for inspiration, and Dvorak's Piano Quintet puts another Slavonic slant on proceedings.
 Evelina Dobračeva |
Simon Crawford-Phillips |
 Alasdair Beatson |
 Benjamin Nabarro |
Adrian Brendel |
January 14, Wigmore Hall
Beethoven and the Romantics
with Simon Crawford-Phillips and Philip Moore (piano duet), Philippa Davies (flute)
5.30pm
Prokofiev: Sonata in D for flute & piano
Dvorak: Slavonic Dances
Tchaikovsky: Suite from the ballet The Nutcracker
The Slavonic Dances brought Dvorak's music from his native Bohemia to the Austrian capital, and in The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky transformed Hoffman's story into a magical ballet for the Russian imperial stage. Prokofiev's lyrical flute sonata betrays little of the war then raging across the globe.
7.30pm
Johann Strauss: Emperor Waltz (arranged for piano, flute, clarinet and string quartet)
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op.25
Beethoven: Septet in E flat Op.20 for clarinet, bassoon, horn, string trio and double bass
Vienna was a city that loved to dance. Strauss's waltzes evoke the gentility of high-society ballrooms, whilst Brahms conjures up the foot-taping energy of Hungarian gypsy music. Beethoven's Septet is full of the outdoor freshness of an eighteenth-century serenade.
 Simon Crawford-Phillips & Philip Moore |  Philippa Davies |
February 11, Wigmore Hall
Beethoven and the Romantics
with Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano), Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Jonathan Stone (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello)
5.30pm
SHE'KOYOKH
Britain's best klezmer and Balkan music band play klezmer and music from the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Turkey. Their programme is a melting pot of culture and style from 19th-century Eastern European wedding music to Sephardic song including klezmer tunes from old manuscripts as well as traditional folk songs.
7.30pm
Prokofiev: Overture on Jewish Themes, Op.34 for piano, clarinet and string quartet
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op.49
Beethoven: String Quartet in E minor, Op 59 No 2 'Razumovsky'
The Romantics were fascinated by Europe's national cultures. Prokofiev paid homage to traditional Jewish music, just as Beethoven incorporated Russian folk tunes into his Razumovsky quartets. Mendelssohn, by contrast, earned Schumann's praise as "the Mozart of the nineteenth century".
 She'Koyokh |
Benjamin Nabarro |
 Jonathan Stone |
 Lawrence Power |
Adrian Brendel |
February 12, Wigmore Hall
Beethoven and the Romantics
with Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Jonathan Stone (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Rachel Roberts (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello), Gemma Rosefield (cello)
11.30am
Sunday Morning Concert
Beethoven: String Quintet in C, Op.29
Tchaikovsky: String Sextet in D minor, Op.70 'Souvenir de Florence'
Goethe compared the string quartet to "four intelligent people conversing with one another." What happens when a composer adds yet more instruments? Beethoven's Quintet has been nicknamed the "Storm" on account of its turbulent finale, whilst Tchaikovsky's Sextet captures memories of an Italian summer.
Benjamin Nabarro |
Jonathan Stone |
Lawrence Power |
Adrian Brendel |
March 18, Wigmore Hall
Beethoven and the Romantics
with Christine Rice (mezzo-soprano), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano), Stephanie Gonley (violin), Jonathan Stone (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Rachel Roberts (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello), Gemma Rosefield (cello)
7.30pm
Richard Strauss: Prelude to Capriccio for string sextet
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder for voice and piano
Beethoven: String Quartet in C, Op.59 No.3 'Razumovsky'
If Beethoven's third Razumovsky quartet marks Romanticism's heroic beginnings, then Mahler's settings of the poetry of Rückert sounded its tragic depths. Written at the height of the Second World War, Strauss's sextet - taken from his opera Capriccio - bids a melancholic farewell to the past.
 Christine Rice |
Simon Crawford-Phillips |
 Stephanie Gonley |
Lawrence Power |
Adrian Brendel |
March 28, Wigmore Hall
with Claire Booth (soprano), Mark Padmore (tenor), Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
5.00pm
SIDE BY SIDE - Concert introduced by Gillian Moore CBE
Colin Matthews: Time Stands Still, for piano, violin & horn
Andrea Balency-Béarn: New work for oboe and string trio *
Eleanor Alberga: No Man's Land Lullaby, for violin and piano
Sun Keting: New work for cello and piano *
Colin Matthews: Dual, for solo viola
Hans Abrahamsen: Greetings, Congratulations, for solo horn
Colin Matthews: 23 Frames, for piano, horn and string trio
Students from the Royal Academy of Music with Nash players Adrian Brendel and Alasdair Beatson, perform works by Colin Matthews, a composer whose music is endlessly inventive, interwoven with two premieres by RAM composers Andrea Balancy-Béarn and Sun Keating. Eleanor Alberga's beautiful lullaby For No Man's Land and Hans Abrahamsen's recent Greetings, Congratulations for solo horn complete the programme.
6.15pm
Pre-Concert Talk: Gillian Moore CBE in discussion with the composers of the evening concert.
7.30pm
NASH INVENTIONS
John Casken: Misted Land, for clarinet and string quartet (2017) *
Colin Matthews: Seascapes, for soprano and ensemble (2020) *
Julian Anderson: Van Gogh Blue (2015) *
Julian Anderson: Three Songs for soprano and ensemble: Tombeau (LP); le 3 mai; New work (WP) (2022) *
George Benjamin: Viola, Viola
Mark-Anthony Turnage: A Constant Obsession (2009) for tenor and ensemble
* Nash Ensemble commissions
The Nash Ensemble - 'a chamber group beyond compare' - is acclaimed for its championing of British composers of successive generations. Its annual Nash Inventions concert features four Nash commissions by composers who have had a long and fruitful association with the Ensemble. The programme will include John Casken's Misted Land and Colin Matthews' beautifully suggestive recent song cycle Seascapes with inimitable soprano Claire Booth. The programme also includes three of Julian Anderson's recent song compositions, the third being a new Nash commission, and a performance of his atmospheric Van Gogh Blue, inspired by the painter's canvasses and letters. As a finale acclaimed tenor Mark Padmore leads a revival of a successful Wigmore Hall commission, Mark-Anthony Turnage's A Constant Obsession, a lyrical song-cycle on the theme of love.
 Claire Booth |
 Mark Padmore |
 Julian Anderson |
 Colin Matthews |
 Mark-Anthony Turnage |
Supported by:
John S Cohen Foundation
