BACH Cello Suite No. 1 in G (19′)
MOZART String Duo No. 1 for Violin and Viola in G (16′)
BACH Goldberg Variations for String Trio (60′)
Bach’s hugely popular ‘Goldberg Variations’ are performed in a breath-taking conversational arrangement for violin, viola and cello, presented together with one of the best-loved works for solo cello, Bach’s Cello Suite No.1.
Tickets:
£16.50 – £27.50
“It’ll be a really fun show with some of the most insanely talented musicians playing some of the best music ever written… All you have to know is – do you like a good tune? Because we’re going to be playing a ton of those.” Chris Addison
Chris Addison (The Thick of It, Mock the Week) joins Ensemble 360 to bring his infectious enthusiasm for classical music to Doncaster.
Telling the story of Europe from the courts of 17th century Italy, through the political and social revolutions of 18th and 19th century Europe, to the weird and wonderful sounds conjured by today’s contemporary composers, Chris takes us on a journey through the rich, vibrant – and sometimes bizarre – history of classical chamber music.
Discover how a bassoonist beat up Bach, Mozart’s passion for the newly-invented clarinet (and for crude poetry), Beethoven’s embattled relationship with his failing hearing and the Emperor of France, and how Schoenberg tore up the musical rule book in a continent ravaged by war. Featuring live performances from some of the UK’s finest musicians and the inimitable curiosity and wit of Chris Addison’s storytelling, this will be an evening of insight, laughter and spine-tingling music.
Programme includes excerpts from:
CORELLI Trio Sonata da Camera Op.2 No.1 in D
STROZZI (arr. Birchall) Che si può fare Op.8
JS BACH Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in G
CPE BACH Flute concerto in D minor
HAYDN String Quartet Op.76 No. 3 ‘Emperor’
MOZART Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Viola K.498 ‘Kegelstatt’
BEETHOVEN Serenade for flute, violin and viola Op.25
CHOPIN Nocturne No.20 in C sharp minor
DEBUSSY Syrinx
S. COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Clarinet Quintet
SMYTH Piano Trio in D minor
SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet No.8 in C minor Op.110
SCHOENBERG Suite for Piano Op.25
REICH New York Counterpoint
MEREDITH Tuggemo
Save 20% when you book for 10 or more Music in the Round concerts in one transaction.
Save 10% when you book for 5 or more Music in the Round concerts in one transaction. Find out more.
Tickets:
£16.50 – £27.50
“It’ll be a really fun show with some of the most insanely talented musicians playing some of the best music ever written… All you have to know is – do you like a good tune? Because we’re going to be playing a ton of those.” Chris Addison
Chris Addison (The Thick of It, Mock the Week) joins Ensemble 360 to bring his infectious enthusiasm for classical music to The Stables, Milton Keynes.
Telling the story of Europe from the courts of 17th century Italy, through the political and social revolutions of 18th and 19th century Europe, to the weird and wonderful sounds conjured by today’s contemporary composers, Chris takes us on a journey through the rich, vibrant – and sometimes bizarre – history of classical chamber music.
Discover how a bassoonist beat up Bach, Mozart’s passion for the newly-invented clarinet (and for crude poetry), Beethoven’s embattled relationship with his failing hearing and the Emperor of France, and how Schoenberg tore up the musical rule book in a continent ravaged by war. Featuring live performances from some of the UK’s finest musicians and the inimitable curiosity and wit of Chris Addison’s storytelling, this will be an evening of insight, laughter and spine-tingling music.
Programme includes excerpts from:
CORELLI Trio Sonata da Camera Op.2 No.1 in D
STROZZI (arr. Birchall) Che si può fare Op.8
JS BACH Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in G
CPE BACH Flute concerto in D minor
HAYDN String Quartet Op.76 No. 3 ‘Emperor’
MOZART Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Viola K.498 ‘Kegelstatt’
BEETHOVEN Serenade for flute, violin and viola Op.25
CHOPIN Nocturne No.20 in C sharp minor
DEBUSSY Syrinx
S. COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Clarinet Quintet
SMYTH Piano Trio in D minor
SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet No.8 in C minor Op.110
SCHOENBERG Suite for Piano Op.25
REICH New York Counterpoint
MEREDITH Tuggemo
Save 20% when you book for 10 or more Music in the Round concerts in one transaction.
Save 10% when you book for 5 or more Music in the Round concerts in one transaction. Find out more.
Tickets
£11 – £27.50
DE MACHAUT Ma fin est mon commencement (arr. trio) (6’)
PICFORTH In Nomine (arr. chamber ensemble) (4’)
Attrib. MOZART Der Spiegel (2’)
CAGE Book One from ‘Music of Changes’ (8’)
PÄRT Spiegel im Spiegel (10’)
DEBUSSY Reflets dans l’eau (5’)
BARTÓK String Quartet No.4 (25’)
This celebration of musical games and mirrors includes ‘Der Spiegel’, a piece for two violinists looking at the same sheet of music, one right-way-up, the other upside-down. Also playing with reading the music is De Machaut’s ‘Ma fin est mon commencement’, a piece performed forwards then backwards. Pärt’s popular piece for cello and piano, ‘Spiegel im Spiegel’ (Mirror in the mirror) and Debussy’s impressionistic evocation, ‘Reflets dans l’eau’ (Reflections in the water) highlight musical mirrors, and the concert culminates with a wonder of musical structure, Bartók’s String Quartet No.4, composed as a musical arch.
Tickets
£23
£11.50 Under 35s
£3 Child/Student
SUK Piano Quartet Op.1
PHYLLIS TATE Sonata for Clarinet and Cello
MARTINŮ Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola H.313
DOHNÁNYI Sextet in C Op. 37
Czech music is one of Leamington Music’s specialities and Suk’s youthful Piano Quartet Op.1 – dedicated to his teacher Antonín Dvořák – is brimming with character and confidence. Martinů’s Three Madrigals represent the determination of the composer’s creative spirit to continue despite major obstacles and are beautifully balanced by the Sonata for Clarinet and Cello by Phyllis Tate, who was known for her idiosyncratic musical imagination and her unique sensitivity to musical colour. We round off the afternoon with the Sextet by Dohnányi – a Romantic work, richly scored and bubbling with tunes.
Concert generously supported by Howard Skempton
Tickets
£9 children
£15 adults
£42 family ticket (2 adults + 2 children)
A brand-new storybook concert, based on the modern classic book series by Benji Davies.
The Storm Whale tells the story of a child, and a whale washed up on the beach, and friendships that will change their lives forever and echo down the generations. These heart-warming tales of friendship, love and courage are brought to life through music specially written to accompany the book by our Children’s Composer-in-Residence, Paul Rissmann.
Perfect for 3 to 7 year-olds and their families, this illustrated and narrated storybook concert is brought to Cast with Music in the Round, the producers of previous popular family concerts Izzy Gimzo, Giddy Goat and Sir Scallywag. It is a wonderful introduction to a live concert experience, brimming with wonderful music, memorable songs, images from the book and plenty of chances to join in.
“The Storm Whale tells a simple but powerful story about loneliness and the love between a parent and child… The world may be as big and lonely and incomprehensible as the ocean, but still it’s possible to find tremendous, heart-stopping tenderness.” The New York Times on the book
With many thanks to all our funders, including:
The Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation, The JG Graves Charitable Trust, Sheffield Town Trust and Wise Music Foundation
BRITTEN Three Divertimenti for String Quartet (10’)
BRAHMS Clarinet Quintet in B minor Op.115 (40′)
BEETHOVEN String Quartet Op.59 No.2 ‘Razumovsky’ (37’)
Join Music in the Round for friendly and welcoming classical concerts performed by the brilliant Ensemble 360, a group of world-class artists who perform music written specially for small combinations of strings, wind and piano.
You’ll be sitting just metres away from these amazing musicians, performing spine-tingling music with their heart and soul on the Palace Theatre’s stage where the audience surround the performers on all sides.
These exceptional musicians perform one of Beethoven’s dynamic and ground-breaking ‘Razumovsky’ string quartets – a restless and passionate piece, full of the power, turbulence and energy that makes Beethoven one of the best loved composers of all time.
Benjamin Britten’s playful and charming Three Divertimenti also feature, alongside Brahms’s celebrated clarinet quintet, a sublime, colourful and profound work for clarinet and strings.
Britten planned these movements as part of a five-movement Quartetto serioso with a subtitle from Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale: “Go play, boy, play!” An earlier version of the opening March was written for a suite inspired by the film Emil and the Detectives (the children’s novel by Erich Kästner was a great favourite of Britten’s), but this was never completed. Eventually he settled on a work in three movements, and the first performance was given by the Stratton Quartet at the Wigmore Hall on 25 February 1936. The audience response was chilly and a hurt Britten withdrew the Three Divertimenti, which were only published after his death. His brilliant gift for idiomatic quartet writing is already apparent in this early work – from the arresting rhythms and textures of the March to the beguiling central Waltz, and the driving energy of the closing Burlesque.
© Nigel Simeone
Allegro
Adagio
Andantino. Presto non assai, ma con sentimento
Con moto
In 1890, while only in his late fifties, Brahms declared that he was retiring: the String Quintet Op. 111 was to be his farewell from composition. A few months later he heard Richard Mühlfeld, clarinettist of the Meiningen Orchestra, and wrote to Clara Schumann that ‘the clarinet cannot be better played’. It inspired him to carry on composing. In the summer of 1891 Brahms went to stay at Bad Ischl in the Salzkammergut where he wrote the Clarinet Trio and Clarinet Quintet. Mühlfeld gave the premieres of both works on 12 December 1891 in Berlin. On hearing a performance in London the following year, George Bernard Shaw wrote that ‘it surpassed my utmost expectations’, and when the conductor Arthur Nikisch heard the Quintet, he fell to his knees in front of Brahms.
It has a rare and hypnotic beauty, thanks to its pervasive mood of melancholy, occasionally interrupted by quiet rapture, or by fiery gypsy figurations. The opening is played by the strings alone (like Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet), from which the clarinet emerges as if through the mists. Ideas gradually become more fully formed, and Brahms uses the tension between the home key (B minor) and its relative major (D major) to great expressive effect. The slow movement is a song-like Adagio, interrupted by a clarinet outburst in which Brahms evokes the improvisations of gypsy players. The third movement is a gentle interlude, with a more animated central section, and the finale is a theme and variations in which music from the opening movement is recalled at the end, to magical effect.
© Nigel Simeone
Allegro
Molto Adagio. Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento
Allegretto. Maggiore (Thème russe)
Finale. Presto
“Demanding but dignified” was how the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung described Beethoven’s new quartets dedicated to Count Rasumovsky when they were first heard in 1807. Composed in 1806, and including Russian melodies from a collection of folk tunes edited by Ivan Prach (published in 1790), these quartets were a major development in the quartet form. But though they were longer and more challenging than any earlier quartets, they were an immediate success. Before the Rasumovsky Quartets were played, Beethoven offered them to publisher Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig – in a job lot with the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Fourth Symphony and Fidelio, but the deal fell through and the quartets were first published in Vienna by the Bureau des Arts et d’Industrie and in London by Clementi.
While the first of the Rasumovsky Quartets is unusually expansive, the second is more concentrated. From the opening two-chord gesture establishing E minor as the home key, the first movement is tense and full of rhythmic ambiguity. The hymn-like slow movement has a combination of richness and apparent simplicity that blossoms into a kind of ecstatic aria: Beethoven himself is reported to have likened it to “a meditative contemplation of the stars”. The uneasy rhythms of the Scherzo are contrasted by a major-key Trio section in which Beethoven quotes a Russian tune that famously reappeared in the Coronation Scene of Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov. The finale begins with a surprise: a strong emphasis on the note C that is tantalising and unexpected in a movement that moves firmly towards E minor.
© Nigel Simeone
A brand-new storybook concert, based on the modern classic book series by Benji Davies.
The Storm Whale tells the story of a child, and a whale washed up on the beach, and friendships that will change their lives forever and echo down the generations. These heart-warming tales of friendship, love and courage are brought to life through music specially written to accompany the book by our Children’s Composer-in-Residence, Paul Rissmann.
Perfect for 3 to 7 year-olds and their families, this illustrated and narrated storybook concert is brought to Cast with Music in the Round, the producers of previous popular family concerts Izzy Gimzo, Giddy Goat and Sir Scallywag. It is a wonderful introduction to a live concert experience, brimming with wonderful music, memorable songs, images from the book and plenty of chances to join in.
“The Storm Whale tells a simple but powerful story about loneliness and the love between a parent and child… The world may be as big and lonely and incomprehensible as the ocean, but still it’s possible to find tremendous, heart-stopping tenderness.” The New York Times on the book
With many thanks to all our funders, including:
The Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation, The JG Graves Charitable Trust, Sheffield Town Trust and Wise Music Foundation
BRITTEN Three Divertimenti for String Quartet (10’)
MOZART String Quartet No.20 in D ‘Hoffmeister’ (26’)
BEETHOVEN String Quartet Op.59 No.2 ‘Razumovsky’ (37’)
A passionate tour through three centuries of extraordinary music with the string quartet of Ensemble 360.
Britten’s playful and inventive Three Divertimenti is followed by Mozart’s radiant ‘Hoffmeister’ Quartet, blending grace and sophistication. The evening concludes with Beethoven’s fiery second ‘Razumovsky’ Quartet, a work of thrilling intensity and deep passion.
Performed with warmth and exhilarating energy, this programme showcases the expressive power of the string quartet.
Britten planned these movements as part of a five-movement Quartetto serioso with a subtitle from Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale: “Go play, boy, play!” An earlier version of the opening March was written for a suite inspired by the film Emil and the Detectives (the children’s novel by Erich Kästner was a great favourite of Britten’s), but this was never completed. Eventually he settled on a work in three movements, and the first performance was given by the Stratton Quartet at the Wigmore Hall on 25 February 1936. The audience response was chilly and a hurt Britten withdrew the Three Divertimenti, which were only published after his death. His brilliant gift for idiomatic quartet writing is already apparent in this early work – from the arresting rhythms and textures of the March to the beguiling central Waltz, and the driving energy of the closing Burlesque.
© Nigel Simeone
1. Allegretto
2. Menuetto and Trio. Allegretto
3. Adagio
4. Allegro
Like Haydn before him, Mozart habitually published his string quartets in groups of six (the ‘Haydn’ Quartets) or three (the ‘Prussian’ Quartets). Between these two sets there is a single work, entered in Mozart’s manuscript catalogue of his own works on 19 August 1786 as ‘a quartet for 2 violins, viola and violoncello’. The autograph manuscript (in the British Library) is simply titled ‘Quartetto’. It was published in 1788 by the Viennese firm founded by Mozart’s friend Franz Anton Hoffmeister and it has come to be known as the ‘Hoffmeister’ Quartet as a result. The first movement opens with a theme in octaves that outlines a descending D major arpeggio – an idea that dominates much of the movement despite some startling harmonic excursions along the way. The development section is marked by almost continuous quaver movement that gives way magically to the opening theme at the start of the recapitulation. The Minuet has an easy-going charm that contrasts with the sterner mood (and minor key) of the Trio section. The great Mozart biographer Alfred Einstein thought the Adagio spoke ‘of past sorrow, with a heretofore unheard-of-depth’. It is not only a deeply touching movement but also an extremely ingenious one, not least when the initial idea heard on two violins returns on viola and cello, investing the same music with a darker, richer texture. The finale is fast and playful, but there’s also astonishing inventiveness in the flow of ideas, from the opening triplets with their chromatic twists to a contrasting theme which scampers up and down the scale. A few sudden and surprising dynamic contrasts keep the listener guessing right to the end.
Nigel Simeone
Allegro
Molto Adagio. Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento
Allegretto. Maggiore (Thème russe)
Finale. Presto
“Demanding but dignified” was how the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung described Beethoven’s new quartets dedicated to Count Rasumovsky when they were first heard in 1807. Composed in 1806, and including Russian melodies from a collection of folk tunes edited by Ivan Prach (published in 1790), these quartets were a major development in the quartet form. But though they were longer and more challenging than any earlier quartets, they were an immediate success. Before the Rasumovsky Quartets were played, Beethoven offered them to publisher Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig – in a job lot with the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Fourth Symphony and Fidelio, but the deal fell through and the quartets were first published in Vienna by the Bureau des Arts et d’Industrie and in London by Clementi.
While the first of the Rasumovsky Quartets is unusually expansive, the second is more concentrated. From the opening two-chord gesture establishing E minor as the home key, the first movement is tense and full of rhythmic ambiguity. The hymn-like slow movement has a combination of richness and apparent simplicity that blossoms into a kind of ecstatic aria: Beethoven himself is reported to have likened it to “a meditative contemplation of the stars”. The uneasy rhythms of the Scherzo are contrasted by a major-key Trio section in which Beethoven quotes a Russian tune that famously reappeared in the Coronation Scene of Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov. The finale begins with a surprise: a strong emphasis on the note C that is tantalising and unexpected in a movement that moves firmly towards E minor.
© Nigel Simeone
Tickets
£15
£10 U12s
A brand-new storybook concert, based on the modern classic book series by Benji Davies.
The Storm Whale tells the story of a child, and a whale washed up on the beach, and friendships that will change their lives forever and echo down the generations. These heart-warming tales of friendship, love and courage are brought to life through music specially written to accompany the book by our Children’s Composer-in-Residence, Paul Rissmann.
Perfect for 3 to 7 year-olds and their families, this illustrated and narrated storybook concert is brought to Wiltshire Music Centre with Music in the Round, the producers of previous popular family concerts Izzy Gimzo, Giddy Goat and Sir Scallywag. It is a wonderful introduction to a live concert experience, brimming with wonderful music, memorable songs, images from the book and plenty of chances to join in.
“The Storm Whale tells a simple but powerful story about loneliness and the love between a parent and child… The world may be as big and lonely and incomprehensible as the ocean, but still it’s possible to find tremendous, heart-stopping tenderness.” The New York Times on the book
With many thanks to all our funders, including:
The Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation, The JG Graves Charitable Trust, Sheffield Town Trust and Wise Music Foundation
Tickets:
£27
£13.50 (U18s & students)
“It’ll be a really fun show with some of the most insanely talented musicians playing some of the best music ever written… All you have to know is – do you like a good tune? Because we’re going to be playing a ton of those.” Chris Addison
Chris Addison (The Thick of It, Mock the Week) joins Ensemble 360 to bring his infectious enthusiasm for classical music to Wiltshire Music Centre.
Telling the story of Europe from the courts of 17th century Italy, through the political and social revolutions of 18th and 19th century Europe, to the weird and wonderful sounds conjured by today’s contemporary composers, Chris takes us on a journey through the rich, vibrant – and sometimes bizarre – history of classical chamber music.
Discover how a bassoonist beat up Bach, Mozart’s passion for the newly-invented clarinet (and for crude poetry), Beethoven’s embattled relationship with his failing hearing and the Emperor of France, and how Schoenberg tore up the musical rule book in a continent ravaged by war. Featuring live performances from some of the UK’s finest musicians and the inimitable curiosity and wit of Chris Addison’s storytelling, this will be an evening of insight, laughter and spine-tingling music.
Programme includes excerpts from:
CORELLI Trio Sonata da Camera Op.2 No.1 in D
STROZZI (arr. Birchall) Che si può fare Op.8
JS BACH Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in G
CPE BACH Flute concerto in D minor
HAYDN String Quartet Op.76 No. 3 ‘Emperor’
MOZART Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Viola K.498 ‘Kegelstatt’
BEETHOVEN Serenade for flute, violin and viola Op.25
CHOPIN Nocturne No.20 in C sharp minor
DEBUSSY Syrinx
S. COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Clarinet Quintet
SMYTH Piano Trio in D minor
SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet No.8 in C minor Op.110
SCHOENBERG Suite for Piano Op.25
REICH New York Counterpoint
MEREDITH Tuggemo
Save 20% when you book for 10 or more Music in the Round concerts in one transaction.
Save 10% when you book for 5 or more Music in the Round concerts in one transaction. Find out more.
Music in the Round invites your class to take part in a brilliant music project, culminating in a live concert at The Guildhall, Portsmouth.
Paul Rissmann (composer) has created a brand-new piece of music based around the modern-classic children’s books by Benji Davies, which includes songs for your class to learn and join in with in the concert.
The Storm Whale tells the story of a boy, a whale washed up on the beach and friendships that will change their lives forever and echo down the generations. Benji Davies’ heart-warming tales of friendship, love and courage are brought to life through music specially written to accompany the book.
Our EY and KS1 practitioners will support you to embed singing and music-making in classroom learning throughout the project, with training, resources, and in-school support newly developed around The Storm Whale books. The project introduces young children to classical music in a fun and educational setting, including a concert featuring strings, woodwind and horn, presented together with story-telling and projected illustrations.
Performed by the wonderfully dynamic and hugely engaging musicians from Ensemble 360, this concert is a great introduction to live music for early years and KS1 children. It’s full of wit, invention, songs and actions, and plenty of opportunities to join in.
An educators’ classroom pack and other resources are available here.
“The Storm Whale tells a simple but powerful story about loneliness and the love between a parent and child… The world may be as big and lonely and incomprehensible as the ocean, but still it’s possible to find tremendous, heart-stopping tenderness.” The New York Times on the book
With many thanks to all our funders, including:
The Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation, Gripple Foundation, JG Graves Charitable Trust, Sheffield Town Trust and Wise Music Foundation