The Aero Ensemble/Hakan Hardenberger (Director & Solo Trumpet) Blackheath Halls Friday 6th May 2005

BACH Chaconne in D minor from Partita No 2 for Solo Violin (arr. for brass ensemble by two students)
GRUBER Exposed Throat (Hakan Hardenberger solo)
RAUTAVAARA Playgrounds for Angels
STAERN Colour Wandering
PIAZZOLLA Histoire du Tango (arr. Agnas for solo trumpet and brass quintet)
TURNAGE Set To

Trumpet: Ales Klancar Goni Eshed Jae Chang Sung Per Fastrup
Trombone: Andres Kontus Martin Olsen Jacob Ringsmose Joel Larsson
Horn: Emma Meyer Widengard Henrik Kristensen
Tuba: Pernilla Nilsson

A weekend which firmly establishes Blackheath Halls as a venue which London's contemporary music enthusiasts should keep in mind.

Hakan Hardenberger brought his students from Malmö Academy of Music on a UK tour after an intensive one-week project. Their standard was breathtakingly professional and rarely can more sumptuous sounds have filled Blackheath's Great Hall.

The programme was cunningly devised, every item contrasting with and supplementing the others in a most satisfying sequence. Full marks to the unnamed arrangers for ten-piece brass ensemble of Bach's solo violin score! Not at all freakish, it enhanced the stature of this famous Chaconne which has proved amenable to arrangements many times (e.g. Busoni's for grand piano).

Gruber's solo is a major work which should stimulate and tease all aspiring trumpet virtuosi. Hardenberger had to maintain a multi-voiced dialogue with himself, employing all the extended techniques available. RAUTAVAARA's Playgrounds for Angels, from his extensive series of "Angel" titled works, is a splendid vehicle to show the golden tone of a crack brass ensemble.

BENJAMIN STAERN is a Swedish post-graduate composition student encountered recently in Stockholm and his Colour Wandering hauntingly explored instrumental blends and colours, enhanced by those reflected on the gleaming instruments from the blue and red stage lighting. He is currently completing a tuba concerto, possibly for Pernilla Nilsson, who caught our ears through the evening for the precision of her attack and rich, focused tone as the foundation for the ensemble. Piazolla's tangos were transcribed from a flute/guitar original and featured Hardenberger on the piccolo trumpet. Finally, a brash and noisy showpiece by Turnage, included as a tribute to Britain's brass band movement, brought the demanding two-hour concert to a rousing conclusion.

Tonight the Brodsky String Quartet brings to Blackheath a challenging programme of 20th century music and the London premiere of Paul Barker's clarinet quintet; Musical Pointers is regrettably unable to cover this highly recommendable event.

Brodsky Quartet & Joan Enric Lluna (clarinet)
Blackheath Halls 8pm 7th May 2005

Paul Barker- Clarinet Quintet 'In Memoriam: for those who fall in time of war' London Premiere
Stravinsky - Three Piece for Clarinet & Three Pieces for string Quartet
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.11
Hindemith - Clarinet Quintet

Tickets from 020 8463 0100