We are well into the season now. The music societies have made us very welcome and it is lovely to see such loyal listeners. We have great fun after performances chatting to some incredibly knowledgeable audience members. It was good to visit Wales again and enjoy their particularly warm hospitality with an abundance of local food and particularly the welsh cakes! We have been so impressed by the enthusiasm and determination of organisers. I would like to particularly mention the lunchtime concert series that are proving to be so popular. Maybe this is a way forward to cope with dwindling numbers of music societies. Many centre it around a simple lunch followed by the performance. It seems to work, with some capacity audiences. Not everyone can take a lunchbreak these days of course, but it certainly ticks the box for older listeners.
This March we were very privileged to give the premiere performance of a piano trio by the English composer Rutland Boughton (1878-1960). If you do not know of him, he is well worth a google search. He is best known for his opera ‘The Immortal Hour’ which had record breaking performances in London. This trio (1948) is 13 minutes long and in 2 sections. It is very English in character and is well written for all the instruments. It is always stimulating to perform a new work and this did not disappoint. A work like this in between two more standard repertoire pieces makes a satisfying experience for performers and audience.
We are celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth this coming season and we are planning performances of all his wonderful piano trios. We also have a Words and Music programme in which Beethoven’s letters and contemporary accounts are woven around the music.