We are delighted to welcome Madeleine, Gordon, Bridget and Joseph (seen here at their recent sell-out concert at the V&A) back to Hampstead Lane for a pre-recording performance of:
- Charles Wood’s Quartet in D Major
- Madeleine’ arrangement of his pupil Herbert Howell’s short Chosen Tune – and……
- Claude Debussy’s sensual, impressionistic and utterly stunning String Quartet in G minor
Charles Wood
For those who do not know his music, Charles Wood (1866 – 1926) was an Irish composer and teacher. Studying initially in the cathedral school of his home town of Armagh he went on to became one of fifty inaugural class members of the Royal College of Music, learning composition from Charles Villiers Stanford and Charles Hubert Hastings Parry. Continuing his studies in Cambridge in 1889 he attained a teaching position at Gonville and Caius College, eventually becoming their director of music. After Stanford death in 1924, Wood assumed his mentor’s vacant role as Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge. His students included Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells. According to his successor at Cambridge, Edward J Dent, as a teacher of composition, Wood “was surpassed only by Stanford himself, and as a teacher of counterpoint and fugue he was unequalled”.
Wood is primarily remembered as an Anglican church music composer, but he also wrote songs and eight string quartets. The later quartets in particular include echoes of Irish folk melodies and dance tunes. We will be hearing number 6. For more on Charles Wood see this post from Seamus Dubhghaill.
Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor
In 1893, Debussy composed his first important work, the String Quartet in g minor, Op. 10 – the only work he wrote in a conventional form.
‘Outwardly, the quartet is a traditional string quartet – but within this conventional template, the music sounds completely new. Novel textures, tonal effects, exotic scales, unconventional chords, striking rhythmic vitality, spontaneous agility and poetic subtlety.’
With thanks to Kai Christiansen – and for the full and interesting article see this page on Earsence.org.
SUPPER
The concert will start at 7pm but the doors will open as usual at 6.30 for a glass of wine. Buffet supper will follow at approximately 8.15pm. Cost £30 to include supper and wine.
Booking now open here.
Upcoming posts:
- A report on last Sunday’s wonderful John Dowland concert with Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg
- Jazz at the Highgate Society – a report on last Sunday’s concert – and what is coming up next.
- The gory tale of Haydn’s head……
- The Green Room – Soumik Datta’s exciting new initiative with refugee musicians
- The Continuo Foundation and Continuo Connect – supporting early music and those who play it
and……
Monday April 8th – The Vauxhall Band Bassett Horn Trio
Many more details to come – we are planning a Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens experience – but booking is now open here.
Follow us on Instagram – SalonsMusicales