A spellbinding event from the creative minds of Daniel Pioro and harpsichordist David Gordon ahead of their appearance at the Aldeburgh Festival, in which they intersperse Bach’s second Partita with improvisations and sonic meditations. This is a perfect example of Daniel’s radical, bracingly open-minded approach to music-making and can’t be missed!

J.S. Bach: Partita for violin No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004 (45’)

Daniel Pioro violin

David Gordon harpsichord

This concert will not have an interval.

Edmund Finnis - String Quartet No. 1 “Aloysius”

Tom Coult  - String Quartet

Maurice Ravel - String Quartet in F major

An evening of some of the purest music ever written for string quartet by two young and brilliant British composers, and the 20th century master of timbre, form and sensuality, Maurice Ravel.

We revisit Edmund Finnis’ delicate searching sound world with its beautiful polyphony in his  String Quartet No.1 “Aloysius”, a five movement work full of poetry, the fourth movement  of which is a reflection on the hymn ‘Christe, qui lux es et dies’ by William Byrd.

We pair this with Tom Coult’s first string quartet - a work which explores the distinctive timbre of open strings in his search for the sound of a consort of viols.

And we finish the concert with Tom’s all time favourite quartet by Maurice Ravel - a work of astonishing beauty and sensuality and with an incredible use of tone colour, his imaginative and expert handling of string resources and sounds foretelling dazzling future orchestrations.

“In the name of the gods of music, and in mine, do not change a single note of what you have written.” Claude Debussy

Jonathan Morton (violin) Clio Gould (violin) Oliver Wilson (viola) Clare O’Connell (cello)

A programme for string trio dedicated to the atmosphere of Vienna, its unique musical aura permeated with the spirit of Mozart and Schubert, heard through the lenses of Russo German master Alfred Schnittke and British composer Nick Martin.

Alfred Schnittke’s String Trio, written to mark the centenary of Alban Berg, is explicitly redolent of vanished Viennese culture containing his uniquely drawn visions of despair, irony, violence and nostalgia, casting a powerful spell over even the most sceptical of listeners.

Alongside we give the world premiere of a new work of exquisite beauty by the supremely emotive composer Nick Martin, the title of which is taken from a letter from 25 year old Edith Södergran to the writer Hagar Olson, and which reveals an impassioned poet searching for deep intimacy:

‘I want you to see me as I really am and show yourself to me as you really are. Could we become divine companions , so that all barriers fall away? …Are you that sea of fire I want to dive into?”

We surround these two works with music by the great Viennese composer Franz Schubert - three songs newly arranged for string trio and his great String Trio in Bb major D581.

Eloisa Fleur Thom (violin) Luba Tunnicliffe (viola) Clare O’Connell (cello)

Schubert: Three songs

Schnittke: String trio

Nick Martin: “Are You the Sea of Fire I Want to Dive Into?”

Schubert: String Trio D.581 in Bb major