Past reviews Archives - Malvern Concert Club

Concert Reviews 2016-17

September 23, 2017 September 23, 2017

28 April 2016 The Scott Brothers Duo – Tom and Jonathan Scott The final concert of the season, brought to us by the Scott Brothers Duo on Thursday 27 April, was a feast of virtuosity and fine musicianship. As a piano-duet team, Jonathan and Tom Scott are always in perfect …

Concert Reviews for 2015-16

January 3, 2017 January 3, 2017

London Conchord Ensemble, The Schubert Ensemble, Cavaleri Quartet, Mark Padmore & Paul Lewis, Danny Driver, Rupert Marshall-Luck & Matthew Rickard, Trio Martinů and Emma Johnson & Friends

Concert Reviews for 2014-15

January 3, 2017 January 3, 2017

Roderick Williams & Susie Allan, The Schubert Ensemble, Zemlinsky Quartet, Sitkovetsky Piano Trio, Carducci String Quartet and Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton

Concert Reviews for 2012-13

January 3, 2017 January 3, 2017

Endellion String Quartet, Nash Ensemble, The Fibonacci Ensemble, Paul Lewis, Doric String Quartet and the Carducci String Quartet, Roderick Williams and Tom Poster

Concert Reviews for 2013-14

January 3, 2017 January 3, 2017

Allegri Quartet, The Schubert Ensemble, Ex Cathedra, Atrium String Quartet, Steven Osborne and the Aronowitz Ensemble

You can now buy membership online

It is now possible to buy membership for Malvern Concert Club online here. You can also buy your... more»

Coffee Concert: Sean Shibe 6th April

In a change from previous seasons, Malvern Concert Club is presenting a recital in a new venue for... more»

Obituary for Peter Evans, Vice President of Malvern Concert Club

Peter Angus Evans (1929 – 2018) It is with enormous sadness that we record the death of Peter... more»

Talk by Joseph Brand: Introduction to Opera at The Met

Friday 26 January 2018, 2.00pm – Malvern Theatres Vice President Joseph Brand, will complete... more»

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Malvern Concert Club

2 months ago

With many thanks to The Britten Oboe Quartet for their excellent concert last week, here is Peter Johnson's review.

Malvern Concert Club

Review: 26 April 2018
Britten Oboe Quartet

The 115th Season closed with a fine concert by the Britten Oboe Quartet, led by the oboist Nicholas Daniel. Daniel plays with a supreme delicacy, perfect for Mozart’s exquisitely fashioned Oboe Quartet, K. 370, with which the concert ended. This performance was in itself worth travelling a long way for, but we also heard a number of rarely performed English works, including a delightful Andante and Allegro for oboe quartet by the 21-year old Elgar, E J Moeran’s beautifully scored Fantasy Quartet of 1946, and an interesting if somewhat austere String Trio in E minor by Lennox Berkeley. More familiar was Britten’s imaginative Phantasy Quartet, written when he was a mere 19 years old but sometimes looking forward to his late works (such as the Third Quartet). But the pièce de resistance was Oliver Knussen’s magnificent Cantata for oboe and string trio, written in 1977. For forty years Knussen has been a passionate exponent of the New Music, as composer and conductor, and his Cantata demonstrates the expressive power of this new language. The title refers to the way the piece alternates between freer, recitative-like passages and more formal aria-like sections, but the former were never sterile (as sometimes in the Baroque solo cantata) and the latter never enslaved to regular four-square rhythms. The harmony breathed the fresh air of atonality, floating rather than tied to a tonal base. Knussen writes beautifully for his instruments, and the musicians not only understood this music but clearly loved it. Especially moving was the closing section, a heart-rending, broken Berceuse. All the works were engagingly introduced by members of the ensemble, the introduction to the Knussen being especially informative. These musicians enjoy performing and unselfconsciously communicate their enjoyment. Schumann’s Mondnacht, arranged for this ensemble by the contemporary English composer Colin Matthews, provided a suitably contemplative close to this delightful evening.

Professor Peter Johnson
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire ... See MoreSee Less

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Malvern Concert Club

2 months ago

We are delighted that Sean Shibe, our most recent recital artist, is on the shortlist for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards 2018. He appears in two categories, Instrumentalist and Young Artists. We would like to congratulate him on this success, and wish him all the best when the winners are announced. "The RPS Music Awards are independent and peer-judged. Winners will be announced at The Brewery on 9 May 2018, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Monday 14 May at 7.30pm." ... See MoreSee Less

RPS Music Awards Shortlist Announced

royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk

Opera, composers, singers, conductors, instrumentalists, ensembles … and virtual reality! The shortlisted nominations for the RPS Music Awards, presented in association with BBC Radio 3, have been a...

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Malvern Concert Club

2 months ago

If you are currently enjoying BBC Young Musician 2018, you may be interested in a programme to mark the 40th anniversary of the compeition which features Nicholas Daniel, who will be performing at Malvern Concert Club as part of the Britten Oboe Quartet on 26th April. ... See MoreSee Less

Forty Years Young, BBC Young Musician - BBC Four

bbc.co.uk

A look back at the competition's history, focusing on the careers of the 2016 finalists.

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