Music Chamber

W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)                  Sonata for Violin and Piano in E Minor, K. 304

                                                           Allegro ~ Tempo di Menuetto

 

This sonata was composed in 1778 while Mozart was in Paris during the same period that his mother, Anna Maria, died. The mood reflects this, it is the only instrumental work by Mozart whose home key is E minor. With his two violin sonatas, Schumann, more than Beethoven or Schubert, supplied the model for the great violin sonatas of the second half of the nineteenth century. Themes from the three movements are related through similar intervals, or “germ cells,” with first theme of movement one returning as a fleeting memory in movement three. The second movement serves as an enchanting intermezzo that incorporates elements of a missing Scherzo. The Finale is a demonic perpetuum mobile that, in its use of canonic style, reflects Schumann's intensive study of JS Bach's work. Schumann was, together with Mendelssohn, one of the first great German artists to be fully aware of the “incommensurable” (to quote Schumann) geniality of Bach’s music. Like much of Schumann’s music, this Sonata plays on the contrasting personas of his literary alter egos, the gentle Eusebius and the impassioned Florestan. Messiaen's piece was a youthful wedding present to his first wife.

 

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)           Sonata No. 1 in A minor Op 105

                                                             Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck ~ Allegretto ~ Lebhaft

 

This Sonata portrays the dark side of intense emotion; that is, joy and rage may both give way to ecstatic feelings, though an ecstatic rage is a perversion, decidedly dark and demented. Schumann wrote the piece in 1851, only a few years before going completely crazy, and it is not difficult to hear the schizophrenic outbursts in the music. What is perhaps most moving is not so much the depth of despair, but the poignant moments of lucidity and warmth that break through, like unexpected sunlight. The marking of the first movement, "Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck," is translated "with passionate expression." As the Sonata moves from this pulsating, impassioned first movement, through a bi-polar Allegretto, and to the final Lebhaft, passionate expression gives way to a tortured, stormy, tumultuous ending. © Nicholas DiEugenio

 

 

Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992)            Theme et Variations

 

 

 

Roxana Rumney began the violin with a local Suzuki teacher, Bridget Gibbs. As a child, she performed in concert tours all over Europe with the London Suzuki Group, then in its infancy. She attended Pimlico School as a member of the specialist music department, and took lessons with Bela Katona. She continued to learn with Katona, and with his wife Eszter Boda, at Trinity College of Music. She took summer schools in Israel directed by Itzhak Rashkovsky, and studied under him in London. After Trinity, she did a postgraduate course at the Guildhall designed to broaden the outlook of the music graduate while giving something back to the community. The Guildhall Ensemble presented new compositions, performed theatre pieces and ran projects in schools. After the course, Roxana organised her own series of concerts in hospitals and care homes for the elderly. Her professional career has been a combination of teaching and performing, having played with various chamber groups and orchestras, including the Scottish BBC Symphony. On becoming a mother and instantly knowing she would want her children to be Suzuki students, she herself trained as a Suzuki teacher and now has her own teaching practice. In the last few years she has rededicated herself to the violin giving regular performances, most recently at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Roxana’s violin is 18th Century Genovese. 

 

Dominic John studied at the Junior Royal Academy of Music under Patsy Toh. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music with John Barstow and Andrew Ball, where he held the RCM Society Junior Fellowship from 2004-2006. A versatile musician, Dominic is an active soloist, member of various chamber ensembles and accompanist to a wide variety of singers and instrumentalists. Performances in this country include the Wigmore Hall, St. John's Smith Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Fairfield Hall and the Barbican Hall. Overseas he has played in France, Holland, Poland, America, Korea and Japan. He has won several prizes including First Prize in the 22nd Brant International Piano Competition, the prestigious Chappell Gold Medal of the RCM, a Director's Golden Jubilee Award at the RCM, 2004 British Music Society Awards, 2004 Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition and 4th Prize in the 2005 Corpus Christi, U.S.A. International Competition for Piano and Strings. He has given Concerto performances of the Beethoven "Emperor", Grieg, Liszt No.1, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, Rachmaninov 3rd and Prokofiev 2nd. Of particular note was a performance with Itzhak Perlman at an evening soirée and performances of Tchaikovsky Concerto and Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals" with the Osaka Philharmonic in Symphony Hall, Osaka. Dominic is a staff accompanist at the Junior Department, Royal Academy of Music. He is also a regular guest entertainer on Cunard Line and P & O cruises.