Music Chamber

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)   Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op 46 

Morgenstimmung (Morning) ~ Åses Tod (The Death of Ase) ~ Anitras Tanz (Anitra’s Dance) ~ In der Halle des Bergkönigs (In the Hall of the Mountain King)

 

Grieg was invited to compose the incidental music for Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt which received its première in 1876. Several years later he took eight of the pieces from which he made two orchestral suites.These have continued to be popular up until the present day and can be heard in various arrangements and have even featured in television advertisements. The titles of the pieces are self-descriptive and are too well-known to need further comment. © Christine Talbot-Cooper 2012

 

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)   Adagio in Eb major “Nocturne” D897, Op.posth.148          

 

This single movement work was not dated but was probably composed in 1827/1828 and it was only later that it was given the title Nocturne by Diabelli. It may well have been a discarded slow movement and is in an extended ternary form. A is a languorous  melody which is played in turn by strings and piano and this in turn is followed by B now in the key of E and in ¾ time which has a busy triplet figure and emphatic dotted rhythm. A returns in E flat but with an accompaniment of the triplet figure in the piano part. The next appearance of B is fortissimo and in C major and the movement ends with a coda in E flat. © Christine Talbot-Cooper 2012

 

Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942)    Piano Trio in D minor, Op 3

Allegro ma non troppo ~ Andante ~ Allegro

 

Zemlinsky was born in Austria and began learning piano at an early age. He later studied at Vienna Conservatory, where his composition teachers were Anton Bruckner and also Johann Nepomuk Fuchs who brought his compositions to the attention of Brahms. Having attended performances of several of Zemlinsky’s works, Brahms encouraged the publication of this work which was written for clarinet trio, but which can also be performed with the violin replacing the clarinet. This is one of the most performed of all Zemlinsky’s chamber works, although he is perhaps best known now for his operas – and for teaching the composer Schoenberg, although he himself never used the twelve tone technique! This work was first performed in Vienna in 1896, just five years after Brahms had composed his clarinet trio, and although it shows the influence of Brahms it also shows that even in the early stages of his career, Zemlinsky had developed a very personal idiom. The first movement is in sonata form and the striking first subject is followed by a thoughtful second subject, which is given space to grow not only in the development section but also in the modified recapitulation. The slow movement begins with a gentle theme on the piano before being taken up by the other instruments and is repeated in a modified form after a more agitated central section which involves an animated conversation between the violin and cello. The final movement is in a beautifully constructed sonata rondo form which features contrapuntal textures. © Christine Talbot-Cooper 2012

 

 

Nathan Tinker is an Anglo-Japanese pianist much in demand as a soloist and an accompanist. He recently graduated from the Royal College of Music where he pursued classical piano, jazz and composition. He has recently performed in at Walthamstow Abbey Church and the Victoria and Albert Museum and has been invited to perform in the Royal College of Music's recent concert series. He appeared with the Brighton & Hove Youth Orchestra and a solo recital at the Dartford Parish Church. Nathan is the official accompanist of the Royal College of Music Underground Association of Musicians and has recently been appointed accompanist for the Imperial School of Medicine Choir.

 

Marie Schreer a soloist and chamber musician on both the violin and viola. She was born in Germany where she studied at the Diapason Music Academy and made her concerto debut at 10. As a member of the German National Youth Orchestra and concertmaster of the Youth Symphony Orchestra Karlsruhe she has performed across Europe and in Venzuala. She has won several prozes including the Bruno Frey and the “best violist in every category” award of the national competition “Jugend Musiziert” in 2004. In 2011 she took part in a workshop for a premiere at the Royal Opera House. As a child she received an annual scholarship from the “L-Bank Stiftung Karlsruhe” until September 2010 when she started as a scholar at the Royal College of Music.

 

Lily Thornton is completing her Master of Performance degree at the Royal College of Music in London. In 2009 she completed her undergraduate degree in Performance from the University of Melbourne. Graduating with honours, she was awarded the Gwen Proctor Violoncello Prize, and the Katherine Kearns Traveling Scholarship. During this time Lily performed in master classes for Li Wei Qin, Takacs Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet, and was principle cellist with the Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra. Lily has taken part in festivals throughout Germany, China, Australia and the U.K including The Australian International Symphonic Orchestral Institute, which she attended as principle cellist on full scholarship.