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The Schubert
Ensemble of London 20th Anniversary Concert The Schubert Ensemble, holder of the 1998 Royal Philharmonic Society Award as best chamber ensemble, is now enjoying its Twentieth Anniversary Season, touring widely in UK, also in Canada and USA, and will be holding a week's residency of concerts and seminars in Italy during June. A source of particular gratification is their Chamber Music 2000 project, now in its fifth year, commissioning short pieces for strings with piano suitable for young and amateur musicians, encouraging chamber music playing among students (especially for pianists) and providing the opportunity to experience at first hand the works of living composers. Hundreds of students have worked on the pieces and thousands have heard them in performance. The Schubert Ensemble presented a unique evening at the Purcell Room, consisting entirely of commissioned works, with a Chamber Music 2000 Concert by school children preceding the evening recital. From the Chamber Music 2000 collection (now numbering some 50 works) we heard seen pieces, including world premières by Michael Berkeley and Stephen Montague, both present to hear the youngsters from schools in London and Wiltshire. Notable were a spooky piece by Judith Bingham, Judith Weir's arise, arise! you slumbering sleepers, with high bell tones to wake us all up and a huge dynamic range making for an exciting ending. Stephen Montague's The Hammer Hawk was excitingly evocative, beginning noisily but subsiding into a lengthy slow section which outstayed its welcome. Owen Leech found a good balance between musical structure and technical demands for his when the moon rises..., whereas Victor Steinhardt's piano quartet stretched the intonation capabilities of the string players, whilst giving an opportunity for a diminutive, shy pianist to reveal enormous accomplishment and promise - Tim Motz, a name to note for future reference; his rhythmic verve and confidence had us all sitting up. In the main evening concert, The Schubert Ensemble gave six of the works they had commissioned with the support of The Schubert Ensemble Trust; normally they sandwich just one of them in their regular chamber music programmes. Joe Cutler's noisy, energetic piano quintet (a distinctive feature of the ensemble is their regular inclusion of a double bass) contrasted with the rarified St Mary Variations by Pavel Novák, inspired by the architecture and quietude of a Gloucester church and accordingly kept down to pp/ppp. Amongst the other pieces, John Woolrich's Five Chorales and A shadowed lesson (based upon those Bach same chorales) were reviewed at their world premières, when I found them 'deeply moving in Woolrich's dark hued instrumentation, with the piano used very sparingly and featuring Peter Buckoke's double bass in high profile'. Owen Leech's - - a deeper season made a strong impression in the Cheltenham Festival and was a worthy successor to that composer's contribution to their Chamber Music 2000 education project; I reported his as 'an original voice from whom great things may be anticipated'. I refer you to my links to both those fuller reports. Fascinating it was, next morning, to listen to The Schubert Ensemble's new CD Bright Future, launched that evening, realising to professional perfection some of the Chamber Music 2000 pieces we had been become acquainted with under the guidance of the schoolchildren. It is interesting to note that my evaluations of the individual pieces were confirmed and none changed by hearing them again. Listening live to young musicians still learning, one had 'filled in' with them, hearing simultaneously the actual sounds and those that they, and the composers, had in their minds' ears - an active, creative listening experience, sharing the striving with the players and the best they could achieve on the day; which is all that professionals too can offer. Peter Grahame Woolf Links & CD recommendations: |