Chamber Contrasts 2010-11

CHAMBER CONTRASTS Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Wigmore Hall, London Cambridge Union Society, Cambridge

Introduction

CHAMBER CONTRASTS Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Wigmore Hall, London Cambridge Union Society, Cambridge

Now in its fifth season, the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Chamber Contrasts series returns with four exquisite chamber programmes in which you can hear some of the Orchestra’s finest performers.

In 2010/11 the series features four concerts in the glorious acoustics of Wigmore Hall in London, one of the world’s finest chamber venues, and, for the first time, two concerts in the magnificent debating chamber of the Cambridge Union Society, which has provided a platform for the world’s greatest orators for nearly 200 years.

Wigmore Hall

Cambridge Union Society

Thursday 18 November 2010 | 7.30pm Wigmore Hall (Tickets: £12, £16, £22, £26) Sunday 28 November 2010 | 7.30pm Cambridge Union Society (Tickets: £12, £18, £26)

Prokofiev Sonata for two violins, Op. 56 Mozart String Quintet in D, K593 Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115

Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra ROBERT HILL clarinet The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s popular Chamber Contrasts returns with a typically mixed programme.

It begins with Prokofiev’s innovative 1932 Sonata for two violins, written for two virtuoso performers on equal terms, and continues with one of Mozart’s late two-viola quintets, a work of profound expressiveness and at times dazzling intricacy. In the second half, the Orchestra’s Principal Clarinettist Robert Hill joins four of his string colleagues to play Brahms’s much loved Quintet – perhaps the finest of his late group of clarinet works, tinged with tender, sometimes melancholy retrospection.

28 November 2010 | 6.30pm FREE Pre-concert talk Cambridge Union Society A talk on the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in the context of the composer’s late chamber works

Monday 20 December 2010 | 7.30pm Wigmore Hall (Tickets: £12, £16, £22, £26)

Debussy Sonata for flute, viola and harp Bax Elegiac Trio Vaughan Williams Phantasy Quintet Puccini Crisantemi Piazzolla Five Tango Sensations Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Julian Rowlands bandoneón The programme begins with two eloquent trios for flute, viola and harp, both written during the First World War: Debussy’s evocation of a lost world of eighteenth-century grace, and Arnold Bax’s commemoration of the dead of the Dublin Easter Rising. From a few years earlier there’s Vaughan Williams’s Phantasy Quintet for strings (with two violas), a little-known work of great beauty. Then after Puccini’s Cristantemi (Chrysanthemums), a touching string quartet miniature written for a winter funeral, Julian Rowlands is the guest soloist in the colourful Five Tango Sensations for bandoneón and string quartet by the great Argentinian tango composer, Astor Piazzolla.

To find out more about the series or to listen to extracts of the pieces before you buy go to: www.lpo.org.uk /chambercontrasts www.capriccio-music.co.uk www.wigmore-hall.org.uk

Saturday 30 April 2011 | 7.30pm Wigmore Hall (Tickets: £12, £16, £22, £26) Sunday 15 May 2011 | 7.30pm Cambridge Union Society (Tickets: £12, £18, £26)

Mozart Horn Quintet in E flat, K407 Strauss Sextet from ‘Capriccio’ Schubert String Quintet in C, D956

Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra JOHN RYAN horn Mozart’s Quintet for horn and strings (with two violas) is a miniature showpiece with all the melodic appeal of his full-scale horn concertos: the solo part is taken by the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Horn player, John Ryan.

The Prelude to Richard Strauss’s last opera, Capriccio, is a self-contained movement for string sextet, rich in texture and full of rococo decoration. These two works precede and complement the String Quintet (with two cellos) which Schubert composed in the last months of his short life, one of the greatest and most profound masterpieces in the entire chamber music repertoire.

15 May 2011 | 6.30pm FREE Pre-concert talk Cambridge Union Society A talk by opera scholar Dr Mark Billinge on the Sextet from Capriccio in the context of the opera and of Strauss’s later career

Monday 20 June 2011 | 7.30pm Wigmore Hall (Tickets: £12, £16, £22, £26)

Brahms Horn Trio in E flat, Op. 40 MartinU˚ Sextet for piano and wind Beethoven Wind Sextet in E flat, Op. 71 Brahms Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Katya Apekisheva piano JOHN RYAN horn Nicholas Carpenter clarinet The final concert in the series is framed by Brahms’s two trios including wind instruments: the early Trio for horn, violin and piano, with its elegiac slow movement and ‘hunting’ finale; and the mellifluous Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, one of the works Brahms wrote late in his career for the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld. Katya Apekisheva is the pianist in these, and in the lively jazz-tinged Sextet with woodwind that Martinu˚ wrote in Paris at the end of the 1920s. The programme is completed by an attractive early Sextet for clarinets, horns and bassoons by Beethoven.

Booking

How to book for Wigmore Hall, London

How to book for Cambridge Union Society, Cambridge

London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office 020 7840 4242

Corn Exchange Box Office 01223 357 851

Monday – Friday: 10.00am – 5.00pm No booking fee

www.lpo.org.uk Wigmore Hall Box Office 020 7935 2141

7 days a week: 10.00am – 7.00pm.

Days without an evening concert: 10.00am – 5.00pm. There is a £1.50 administration fee for all telephone bookings, which includes the return of your tickets by first class post.

Monday – Saturday: 10.00am – 6.00pm No booking fee

In person

Corn Exchange Box Office, Wheeler Street, Cambridge CB2 3QB Monday – Saturday: 10.00am – 6.00pm No booking fee Please note that online booking is not available for the concerts in Cambridge.

Facilities for disabled people.

www.wigmore-hall.org.uk £1 administration fee per transaction, which includes the return of tickets by first class post if time permits.

Cambridge concerts are promoted by Capriccio Music

In person

7 days a week: 10.00am – 8.30pm.

Days without an evening concert: 10.00am – 5.00pm. No advance booking in the half hour prior to a concert.

Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP The Wigmore Hall Box Office is closed for telephone and personal bookings on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and at the weekends during its summer closure period.

Facilities for disabled people.

For full details please contact House Management 020 7258 8210 Email: housemanagers @wigmore-hall.org.uk

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Chamber Contrasts Series at Wigmore Hall is generously supported by Dunard Fund. Capriccio Music wishes to acknowledge the generous support of Deloitte LLP and The Daily Telegraph for the concerts in Cambridge on 28 November 2010 and 15 May 2011 respectively.

The Wigmore Hall Trust – Director: John Gilhooly Registered Charity No. 1024838 The London Philharmonic Orchestra Registered Charity No. 238045

Getting there

How to get to Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP Bond Street (Central & Jubilee lines) or Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central & Victoria lines).

A large number of buses travel along Oxford Street, which is approximately five minutes’ walk from Wigmore Hall.

There are car parks nearby at Harley Street, Cavendish Square and Marylebone Lane.

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How to get to Cambridge Union Society 9a Bridge Street, Cambridge THISCB2 IS 1UB SCALED AT 110% Main entrance: Bridge Street, next to the Round Church.

City buses run regularly to Park Street and Jesus Lane.

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