22 November @ 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
£25.00
Artists: Ensemble Mirage (clarinet and string quartet) – Matthew Scott (clarinet), Michael Newman (cello), Rosemary Hinton (violin), Emily Pond (viola) and Alexandra Lomeiko (violin)
Concert Sponsor:Â Keith Stokes-Smith
Programme
- Johannes Brahms – Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (arr. Takemitsu) – Herbstlied (Autumn Song)
- Interval
- Herbert Howells – Rhapsodic Quintet, Op. 31
- Jean Françaix – Clarinet Quintet
About the Concert
On Sunday 22 November, Ensemble Mirage brings music for clarinet and string quartet to nadsa for the first time in 30 years. At its heart stands Brahms’s autumnal masterpiece, the Clarinet Quintet in B minor, partnered by an English gem from Herbert Howells, the witty French elegance of Jean Françaix, and a haunting miniature by Tchaikovsky arranged by Toru Takemitsu. It is a programme that places the well-loved alongside the unjustly neglected: the speciality of this enterprising ensemble.
Four Voices for Clarinet and Strings
The afternoon opens with Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet, written in the summer of 1891 for the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld, whose playing drew the composer out of a brief retirement. Valedictory and elegiac, it is among the supreme achievements of his final years, glowing with warmth and quiet regret. It received its first private performance that November in Meiningen, with Mühlfeld and the Joachim Quartet. The first half then closes with Takemitsu’s gentle arrangement for clarinet and strings of Tchaikovsky’s Autumn Song, the October piece from The Seasons, premiered in this guise in 1993.
After the interval comes Howells’s Rhapsodic Quintet of 1919, a single flowing movement of mystic, song-like beauty written in the aftermath of the First World War, and one of the finest English chamber works of its time. The programme closes with the Clarinet Quintet by Jean Françaix, composed in 1977 in his inimitable French style: elegant, neoclassical and brimming with wit.
About the Ensemble
Ensemble Mirage is a dynamic flexi-ensemble focusing on the fantastic range of mixed wind, string and piano chamber music. From trios to octets, this small group of dedicated, passionate and award-winning musicians aims to expand the standard chamber repertoire, bringing to light many often overlooked works, with each programme focusing on a particular instrumental combination and presenting the well-known alongside the more rarely heard. They are Making Music Recommended Artists and finalists in the Mixed Chamber category of the 66th Royal Over-Seas League competition; they were also St John’s Smith Square Young Artists and held an Aldeburgh Chamber Music Residency. The ensemble evolved from Trio Mirage, Royal Academy of Music Chamber Fellows and Harold Craxton Prize winners, growing to explore this larger repertoire.
Why You Shouldn’t Miss This
Concerts for clarinet quintets are a rarity. Few combinations in chamber music are as beguiling, and especially in nadsa’s intimate setting. This carefully curated programme showcases the range of the ensemble’s expression – from Brahms’s late tenderness to the sparkle of Françaix.