Music on Thursdays
|
|
Thursday 19th October 2023
12.30 lunchtime
Tailleferre Ensemble
Emma Halnan, flute
Nicola Hands, oboe
Jennifer Dunsmore, clarinet
Amy Thompson, bassoon
Lana Bode, piano
Programme
Julius Engelbert Röntgen (1855-1932)
Trio for flute, oboe and bassoon Op 86 (1917)
1 Allegretto con spirito
2 Poco andante, quasi una fantasia
3 Allegretto - Più mosso e scherzando - Più animato - Coda
Dana H Joras (b1980s, USA)
Spring Blooms for flute and oboe (2022)
written for Nicola Hands
1 Flamboyant Iris
2 Delicate Snowdrops
3 Ruffled Tulips
4 Waves of Muscari
Rhian Samuel (b1944, Wales)
Redlands Suite
I Distances
II Stony Ground
III On Green Lawns
IV Irregular Paths
Errollyn Wallen (b1958, Belize)
Louis' Loops for (Toy) Piano or Harpsichord (2003) [4:00]
Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983, born Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse)
Sonate Champêtre, clarinet, bassoon & piano (1972)
1 Allegro Moderato
2 Andantino
3 Allegro Vivace: Gaiement
Concert duration approx: 45 minutes
Please donate to help fund these concerts at: cafdonate.cafonline.org/14455
Tailleferre Ensemble
The Tailleferre Ensemble, founded in 2019 by Nicola Hands and Penelope Smith, is a UK-based chamber collective whose aim is to promote women in music.
The group is a chamber ensemble of flexible line-up and size, offering recitals of varied instrumentation and musical genre, including established, lesser-known and contemporary works.
They have a special interest in redressing the balance of works performed by male and female composers, and in promoting new works.
The group perform regularly around the UK, and have recently played at St John's Smith Square, Conway Hall and for the Nottingham Chamber Music Festival. They have also played for Aylesbury Lunchtime Concerts, Music-at-Hill, Leatherhead 's Music on Thursdays, at St James Piccadilly, St Martin’s Epsom, Chapel Royal Brighton and All Saints High Wycombe.
The group has also collaborated with Façade Ensemble and the South Florida Chamber Ensemble (SFCE) in London. In October 2019 they premiered work by Welsh composer Rhian Samuel, who has since dedicated new work to the ensemble.
The group’s debut album "There Are Things to be Said" was released in February 2023. Reviewers have praised the group's "superb musicianship" and "effortless" performance on the recording, and Textura magazine said "The beauty and precision of the musicians' playing and their sensitivity to dynamics all help to distinguish this exceptional debut."
The Tailleferre Ensemble offers flexibility in programming and instrumentation, and their members are female musicians of very high calibre with impressive individual biographies. As a group, they have been praised for their fine performances and “extensive palette of timbres”.
The group is a chamber ensemble of flexible line-up and size, offering recitals of varied instrumentation and musical genre, including established, lesser-known and contemporary works.
They have a special interest in redressing the balance of works performed by male and female composers, and in promoting new works.
The group perform regularly around the UK, and have recently played at St John's Smith Square, Conway Hall and for the Nottingham Chamber Music Festival. They have also played for Aylesbury Lunchtime Concerts, Music-at-Hill, Leatherhead 's Music on Thursdays, at St James Piccadilly, St Martin’s Epsom, Chapel Royal Brighton and All Saints High Wycombe.
The group has also collaborated with Façade Ensemble and the South Florida Chamber Ensemble (SFCE) in London. In October 2019 they premiered work by Welsh composer Rhian Samuel, who has since dedicated new work to the ensemble.
The group’s debut album "There Are Things to be Said" was released in February 2023. Reviewers have praised the group's "superb musicianship" and "effortless" performance on the recording, and Textura magazine said "The beauty and precision of the musicians' playing and their sensitivity to dynamics all help to distinguish this exceptional debut."
The Tailleferre Ensemble offers flexibility in programming and instrumentation, and their members are female musicians of very high calibre with impressive individual biographies. As a group, they have been praised for their fine performances and “extensive palette of timbres”.
Recordings of the works in today's concert
Julius Engelbert Röntgen (1855-1932)
Trio for flute, oboe and bassoon Op 86 (1917) [14:00]
1 Allegretto con spirito
2 Poco andante, quasi una fantasia
3 Allegretto - Più mosso e scherzando - Più animato - Coda
Our recording is of Tailleferre members Emma Halnan, flute, Nicola Hands, oboe, and Christina Marroni, bassoon, playing Röntgen's Trio in St James's Church, Piccadilly, London:
Trio for flute, oboe and bassoon Op 86 (1917) [14:00]
1 Allegretto con spirito
2 Poco andante, quasi una fantasia
3 Allegretto - Più mosso e scherzando - Più animato - Coda
Our recording is of Tailleferre members Emma Halnan, flute, Nicola Hands, oboe, and Christina Marroni, bassoon, playing Röntgen's Trio in St James's Church, Piccadilly, London:
Dana H Joras (b1980s, USA)
Spring Blooms for flute and oboe (2022) [6:50]
written for Nicola Hands
1 Flamboyant Iris
2 Delicate Snowdrops
3 Ruffled Tulips
4 Waves of Muscari
Here, Emma Halnan and Nicola Hands perform Spring Blooms. Recorded live in performance at the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery, for the the Nottingham Chamber Music Festival in July 2022.
Rhian Samuel (b1944, Wales)
Redlands Suite [8:40]
I Distances
II Stony Ground
III On Green Lawns
IV Irregular Paths
Performed here by three members of Tailleferre, Nicola Hands, oboe, Jennifer Dunsmore, clarinet & Amy Thompson, bassoon:
Errollyn Wallen (b1958, Belize)
Louis' Loops for (Toy) Piano or Harpsichord (2003) [4:20]
It seems reasonable to offer you three versions of this work. First on Cardboard Grand Piano. We'll show you a picture of that novelty. Let's begin with Quinta's explanation.
With the covid-related cancellation of a piano recital at the Bishopsgate Institute, I built a cardboard grand piano in my living room and decided to post from there the programme of pieces I would've played.
Growing up, I played music by white male composers- mainly dead ones- so in putting together my programme for this concert, I chose music only by women living now - music I could identify with, music full of imaginative possibility, play, humour, feeling, experimentation.
The classical music world I learnt in did not look or feel like this. As an adult professional, I moved into other musical worlds to play and make, and look back on those early experiences with some complicated feelings. Learning these pieces has helped me reclaim the memory- and was such solace during lockdown. And it's not often you get to do a concert in your slippers....
Since the concert would've happened at lunchtime, I posted a piece from the programme every day at 1 for people to enjoy over their sandwiches - starting with Errollyn Wallen's dazzling Louis' Loops.
Quinta is the stage name of multi-artist Katherine Mann - click on the image to visit her website
Here is the same piece played on harpsichord, by Luca Quintavalle (no relation!):
And here it is once more, played by Margaret Leng Tan, and Ensemble X / The Continuum Ensemble - ON TOY PIANOS !
Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983, born Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse)
Sonate Champêtre, for oboe, clarinet, bassoon & piano (1972)
1 Allegro Moderato
2 Andantino
3 Allegro Vivace: Gaiement
Here comes an enjoyable finish to our concert. And, once more, Tailleferre have cornered the market in recordings of this work. YouTube has the movements of Sonate Champêtre in three individual audio recordings, taken from the CD There are Things to be Said:
|
|
|
Previous concert
part of the Mole Valley Arts Alive Festival
12 October 2023 - Khamis & Jones, piano-4-hands - click here
12 October 2023 - Khamis & Jones, piano-4-hands - click here
Next concert
part of the Mole Valley Arts Alive Festival
with The Westminster Society (London & Oxford)
26 October 2023 - Phil Hopkins, classical harmonica, Lesley Bridgwater, piano - click here
with The Westminster Society (London & Oxford)
26 October 2023 - Phil Hopkins, classical harmonica, Lesley Bridgwater, piano - click here
