Sunday 19^th January 2025

3.00 pm

Runtime: 120 minutes

Colyer-Fergusson Hall

The Gulbenkian Arts Centre

University of Kent

London Bridge Trio

Programme

Beethoven Trio in G major Op. 1 no. 2

I.   Adagio – Allegro vivace (G major)
II.  Largo con espressione (E major)
III. Scherzo - Allegro (G major, with a trio in B minor)
IV.  Finale – Presto (G major)

Fauré Trio in D minor op. 120

I.   Allegro ma non troppo
II.  Andantino
III. Allegro vivo

INTERVAL

Dvořák Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90 (the Dumky)

I.   Lento maestoso — Allegro quasi doppio movimento (E minor –

     E major)
II.  Poco adagio — Vivace non troppo — Vivace (C♯ minor)
III. Andante — Vivace non troppo — Allegretto (A major – A minor –

     A major)
IV.  Andante moderato — Allegretto scherzando — Quasi tempo di

     marcia (D minor – D major)
V.   Allegro (E♭ major – E♭ minor)
VI.  Lento maestoso (C minor – C major)

Biography

The London Bridge Trio is one of Britain’s leading chamber ensembles, known for their deeply nuanced and searching interpretations. Formed in 2002, they continue their original mission of prioritising strong, composer-led programmes, often collaborating with regular guest artists. Their name reflects an admiration for English music of the early twentieth century, which forms part of the group’s varied repertoire and is represented by their hugely successful Frank Bridge recordings. For 2022 and beyond, founder Daniel Tong is joined by Ben Hancox and Cara Berridge, both members of the acclaimed Sacconi Quartet with whom Daniel has performed on numerous occasions.

Over recent years the trio has appeared frequently in London with Wigmore Hall and Kings Place concerts as well as a residency at St John’s Smith Square, entitled ‘Brahms and his World’, which represented four aspects of his composing life with mixed combinations and song. Their concert of Czech music at Champs Hill in Sussex was broadcast live by BBC Radio 3, and their concerts at St George’s Bristol were broadcast as a series of BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts. The group has also appeared at venues including Queen's Hall, St George’s and the Ponte de Lima Festival (Portugal).

In Autumn 2015 the trio released a disc of Dvorak Piano Quartets on the Champs Hill label, with guest violist Gary Pomeroy of the Heath Quartet. Among further discs a collection of works by Fauré followed on Sonimage Classics, and received excellent reviews from both The Strad and Gramophone magazines.

Programme Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 Bonn – 1827 Vienna)
Trio in G major op. 1 no. 2
Beethoven is a German composer and pianist whose initial fame was that of virtuoso improviser on the keyboard. His compositions include symphonies, string quartets, concerti, the opera Fidelio, sonatas, choral music as well as songs. He spent four years at the court of Count Waldstein in Bonn, playing the viol in his orchestra and performing other duties. It was Haydn who invited him to Vienna after seeing some of his early compositions. There he lived for two years in the home of Prince Lichnowsky where he was patronized by the aristocracy despite his often brusque and uncouth manner. His eccentric and unpredictable behaviour became ever greater due to his increasing deafness. Despite this, he was so esteemed that that Vienna conferred on him the honorary freedom of the city.

Beethoven's Trio in G is part of a set of three piano trios for piano, violin, and cello dedicated to Prince Lichnowsky, written and published in 1795 and first performed there that same year. The Op. 1 designation should really have been given to his Dressler Variations for keyboard. However, it is suggested that he may have recognized the trios as sufficiently substantial and marketable for inclusion in a first major publication to showcase his new style of music. They were an immediate success.

Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845 Pamiers – 1924 Paris)
Trio in D minor op. 120
Fauré was a composer, organist, pianist and teacher, one of the foremost French composers of his generation, whose musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Born into a cultured but not especially musical family in the Occitanie region of Southwest France, his talent became clear as a young boy and aged nine, he was sent to Paris to a musical college to be trained as a church organist and choirmaster. Among his teachers was Camille Saint-Saëns, who became a lifelong friend. Among his best-known works are Pavane, originally composed for voice and piano, as is Clair de lune with lyrics by Paul Verlaine. After graduation Fauré earned a modest living as an organist and teacher, leaving him little time for composition. In his thirties he became choirmaster and later organist at the prestigious Madeleine church in Paris and in 1896 Professor of Composition at the Conservatoire, before taking over its directorship in 1905, a post he held for 15 years. Only during the summer was he able to devote time to composing. In his last years he gained recognition in France as the leading French composer of his day. Two years before his death an unprecedented national musical tribute was held for him in Paris in 1922, headed by the President of the French Republic. Outside France this kind of recognition came mainly after his death, except for Britain where he had many admirers during his lifetime. His music is often described as the link between romanticism and modernism. At the time of his birth Chopin was still composing, whereas by his death Jazz and atonal music were being played. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as the most advanced composer of his generation in France, and notes that his harmonic and melodic innovations, more complex in style by then, influenced the teaching of harmony for later generations.

During the last twenty years of his life, he suffered from increasing deafness. In contrast with the charm of his earlier music, his works from this period are sometimes elusive and withdrawn in character, and at other times turbulent and impassioned. An interesting if sad mirroring of Beethoven. His Piano Trio in D minor is one of his late chamber works, composed at the suggestion of his publisher. The work was interrupted by an attack of pneumonia leaving him very fatigued. The original, short-lived plan had been a trio for piano, cello and either clarinet or violin. Fauré was too ill to attend the premiere which was well received by critics who praised his ability of successfully playing disparate ideas off each other.

Antonin Leopold Dvořák (1841 Nehlahozeves, Bohemia – 1904 Prague)
Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90 ("The Dumky")
Antonin Dvořák was a Czech composer, one of nine children of a village butcher. At 14 he went to live with an uncle in the nearby town of Zlonice. This may have been for financial reasons, since the family was not wealthy, but it was certainly to further his education, both German and in music. He was taught viola, piano, organ and counterpoint by Antonin Liehmann who quickly recognized the young Dvořák’s ability and encouraged him to play the organ and sing in the church choir. Music making also took place in the local castle and the surrounding region where he had the opportunity of learning many chamber music pieces. Apparently, his father was unimpressed with his son’s progress in German, so on Liehmann’s recommendation he moved to Ceska Kamenice where he met Franz Hanke, a former student of the Prague Organ School. Hanke recognized his exceptional talent and saw to it that his musical education included musical theory as well as organ tuition. A few years later he moved to Prague to study at the organ school and eventually to play in the orchestra of the Prague National Theatre, under the direction of Smetana. He had started composing but destroyed or withdrew the works. Success finally came in 1874 when he won an Austrian National prize.
The Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, B. 166, (also called the Dumky trio from the subtitle Dumky) is among the composer's best-known works. The title is an Ukrainian term referring to epic ballads, more specifically a song or lament of captive people. It became a popular form in the 19th century with composer of other Slavic areas to indicate a brooding and intro-spective composition interspersed with cheerful sections. Dvořák included it in his farewell tour of 40 concerts through Moravia and Bohemia before he left for New York to take up his post as head of the National Conservatory of Music. It is unusual in its structure consisting of six sections each including a dumky episode.It is best to leave the final word to Music critic Daniel Felsenfeld who describes the form as follows:

“The form of the piece is structurally simple but emotionally complicated, being an uninhibited Bohemian lament. Considered essentially formless, at least by classical standards, it is more like a six movement dark fantasia—completely original and successful, a benchmark piece for the composer. Being completely free of the rigors of sonata form gave Dvořák license to take the movements to some dizzying, heavy, places, able to be both brooding and yet somehow, through it all, a little light hearted.”

Sources: The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Le Petit Larousse, and the Internet

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Programme for further Spring Concerts - 83rd Season, 2024/25

2025

23rd February*  “Façade – An Entertainment” by Edith Sitwell & William Walton
16th March         Kyan String Quartet
27th April           James Gilchrist, tenor and Anna Tilbrook, piano

*23rd February   We are delighted to inform you of a change to the programme for February's concert - with the same artists. In the first half Matthew Rose, bass and Linda Hirst, mezzo soprano will perform songs by Vaughan Williams ("Songs of Travel"), Schubert and Britten accompanied by Anna Tilbrook, piano. The second half will be devoted to Sitwell and Walton's "Façade Suite" for Narrators (Linda Hirst and Matthew Rose) and Instrumental Ensemble ( flute, sax, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, cello) directed by Anna Tilbrook.