Season 2012 - 13
Six concerts from October to March in the Cowdray Hall, Schoolhill at 7.30
Monday October 8th 2012: The Piatti String Quartet
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Charlotte Scott (violin), Michael Trainor (violin), David Wigram (viola), Jessie Ann Richardson
(cello)
Bach arranged Mozart Five Fugues K405
Mendelssohn Quartet in E flat op. 44 no. 3
Schubert
Quartet in D D810 “Death and the Maiden”
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Winners St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition
The Piatti Quartet are rapidly emerging as one of the UK’s most exciting young quartets. They were
winners of the Tunnell Trust Award in 2010/11, always a guarantee of quality, and have gone on to
secure further prizes including the St Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition. They are
currently Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellows at the Royal Academy, and are studying with the
Alban Berg Quartet in Madrid. Their programme includes the Bach Fugues which so delighted
Mozart that he transcribed them for string quartet, and a double helping of great works in the
repertoire – Mendelssohn’s quartet op. 44 no.3, written when he was at the height of his powers,
and Schubert’s stunning late quartet D810. This is known and loved as “Death and the Maiden”
from the theme of the song he used for the set of variations in the slow movement. You can read
about the quartet, and the individual players’ impressive biographies, at their website:
www.piattiquartet.com .
Monday November 5th 2012: The Kungsbacka Piano Trio
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Malin Broman (violin), Johannes Rostano (cello), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano)
Beethoven
Piano Trio in D op. 70 no. 1
Huw Watkins Piano Trio (recent commission)
Rachmaninov Trio Élégiaque no. 2 in D op. 9
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First Prize Winners 1999 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition
This concert was part of SOUND, North East Scotland’s Festival of New Music.
Some of you will remember the Kungsbacka Trio from the last time they were in Aberdeen in 2008,
when they gave the world premiere of the piano trio by Helen Grime, which ACMC had
commissioned. Their pedigree includes winning the 1999 Melbourne International Chamber Music
Competition, and from their base in Gothenburg their subsequent international career has taken
them all over the world. They take their name from the Swedish town of Kungsbacka, where they
gave their first concert, and where since 2001 they have run an annual chamber music festival. We
are delighted to welcome them back, and their programme will include another recent work, a piano
trio by UK composer Huw Watkins (who incidentally is Helen Grime’s husband!) As well, they will
play Beethoven’s Trio op. 70 no. 1 (the “Ghost” for its mysterious second movement), and
Rachmaninov’s epic Trio Elégiaque, which we have never heard before at an ACMC concert.
The Kungsbacka’s website is: http://www.pianotrio.com , and Huw Watkins’ biography can be found
on the web in several places, including http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/composer/watkins-huw.
Monday 3 December 2012: The Lothian Duo
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Jessica Beeston (viola), Andrew Johnston (piano)
Schubert
Arpeggione Sonata
Schumann
Märchenbilder
Watson Forbes (arranged)
Two Scots Songs
Fauré
Two Songs
Rebecca Clarke
Sonata for viola and piano
We haven’t had a whole evening of the luscious tones of the violin’s big brother since 1977
(although we have had occasional items for this combination of viola and piano), so this concert will
be something to savour! Jessica Beeston is the daughter of Michael Beeston, for many years viola
player with the Edinburgh String Quartet, and in 2011 Jessica took over his seat in the quartet. Her
association with the Scottish pianist Andrew Johnston goes back several years, when they gave many
concerts together as part of Live Music Now. Compared to the violin, the viola repertoire is rather
limited. For example, Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata was intended for the then novel, but shortlived, six-stringed instrument also known as the Guitar-Violincello, but this lovely music is now part
of the viola repertoire. However, both Schumann’s Märchenbilder and Rebecca Clarke’s viola sonata
were written specifically for the instrument, and exploit its special character to the full.
Monday 14 January 2013: The Navarra String Quartet
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Magnus Johnston (violin), Marije Ploemachar (violin), Simone van der Giessen (viola),
Nathaniel Boyd (cello)
Haydn
Quartet in C op. 33 no. 3
Beethoven
Quartet in E flat op. 74
Vasks
Quartet no. 3
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Prize Winners 2007 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition
The Navarra Quartet played for ACMC in 2006, and then went on to be Prizewinners at the 2007
Melbourne International String Quartet Competition and to be named Outstanding Young Artists at
the 2008 MIDEM Awards. Their then leader, Xander Van Vliet, has now moved on to become
principal second violin with the Scottish Ensemble, but he has been replaced by Magnus Johnston,
who earned a fine reputation as the first violin of what is now the Elias Quartet when they were
prizewinners at the London International String Quartet Competition. Though two of their members
come from Holland, the quartet was originally formed at the Royal Northern College of Music, where
they now hold the post of Quartet in Association. As well as great quartets by Beethoven and
Haydn, their programme includes the third quartet written in 1995 by the Latvian composer Peteris
Vasks, a rare opportunity to hear the music that he has described as “bringing light into the lives of a
people who have suffered so much.”
The Navarra have an excellent website on: http://www.navarra.co.uk/ .
Monday 11 February 2013: The Benyounes Strung Quartet
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Zara Benyounes (violin), Emily Holland (violin), Sara Roberts (viola), Kim Vaughan (cello)
Beethoven
Quartet in F op. 18 no. 1
Haydn
Quartet in G op. 54 no. 1
Webern
Langsamer Satz
Janáček Quartet no. 1 “The Kreutzer Sonata”
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Prizewinners Sandor Vegh String Quartet Competition, Budapest
The Benyounes Quartet is another of the talented young groups to come from the Royal Northern
College in Manchester, where they were formed in 2007. Only five years on, in June this year they
were awarded the top prize at the Sandor Vegh International String Quartet Competition in
Budapest, so we are delighted that we have the chance to hear them – who knows, they may be the
next Amadeus Quartet! They are named for their first violin, Zara Benyounes, who though born and
brought up in Manchester has an Arabic name, and is half-Algerian. The other members come from
England, Wales and Northern Ireland – a true United Kingdom! We will hear Beethoven and Haydn,
and then Webern’s Langsamer Satz, written before he abandoned tonality, and to the innocent ear
sounding like Brahms or Mahler. The concert finishes with Janacek’s first quartet, inspired by
Tolstoy’s novella the “Kreutzer Sonata”.
The Benyounes website is at: http://www.benyounesquartet.com/
Monday 4 March 2013: The London Bridge Ensemble
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Laura Samuel (violin), Kanako Ito (violin), Tom Dunn (viola), Kate Gould (cello), Daniel Tong
(piano), Ivan Ludlow (baritone)
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Bridge
Vaughan Williams
Bridge
Dvořák
Phantasy Quartet in F minor (1905)
“On Wenlock Edge” for baritone and string quartet
Songs for voice and viola
Piano Quartet no. 2 in E flat op. 87
The London Bridge Ensemble brings together some of the best-known names in chamber music,
including Laura Samuel, for many years second violin of the Belcea Quartet, Kate Gould cellist of
the Leopold String Trio, and pianist Daniel Tong. As explained on their website at
http://www.lbe.org.uk/index.htm , the Ensemble’s name represents the group's special ability to
bring together different musical genres and styles from the fields of both chamber music and
song. It is also an affectionate homage to the bridge and station of that name in the City of
London and, importantly, reflects, through Frank Bridge, an admiration for the English music of
the early twentieth century, which has from the outset formed an important part of the group’s
varied repertoire. We will hear music by Frank Bridge, his early Phantasy Quartet written for the
Cobbett Chamber Music Competitions, and his songs for voice and viola, with baritone Ivan
Ludlow. A very special experience will be the performance of Vaughan Williams’ iconic song
cycle for baritone, piano and string quartet “On Wenlock Edge”, setting the bitter-sweet poems
of A.E. Housman. All this, and a final thrill of Dvorak’s masterly second piano quartet – a
memorable end to a memorable concert of a memorable season!