Potton Hall

Following the great success of her Chopin evening last year, Lucy Parham returns with a programme devoted to the life and music of that most romantic of all piano composers, the great Franz Liszt

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“The Brodsky Quartet are the team for the new century”, Gramophone magazine said when reviewing the quartet’s last recording, Rhythm and Texture. It included the Quartet by Maurice Ravel and prompted Norman Lebrecht to comment that “all you want to do when the disc ends is play it again.”

That CD was recorded at Potton Hall where the Brodsky Quartet has collaborated with Jeremy Hayes on several outstanding CDs, of Beethoven and Janacek and most recently on a disc of Encore pieces, arranged by the quartet for their 40th anniversary celebrations. That recording marked the beginning of their new, exclusive contract with Chandos Records and the day after this concert the Brodsky Quartet will begin their second CD for Chandos, of music by Debussy, including the wonderful work which he optimistically entitled “First Quartet”. Would that he had written more of them…..

The concert also includes Debussy’s magical Danse sacrée et danse profane for harp and strings in which the quartet will be joined by Sioned Williams, Principal Harpist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and it will end with Shostakovich’s Third Quartet. The Brodsky Quartet has made a speciality of playing Shostakovich’s quartets and they will be performing all fifteen of them next year.  The Third Quartet was written in 1945, between Shostakovich’s Ninth and Tenth symphonies and it includes a gripping movement which Shostakovich is alleged to have called “The forces of war unleashed”, which looks forward to the eruptive depiction of Stalin in Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony. The programme also includes one of Mozart’s most extraordinary last works. An unmissable concert!

Programme:

Mozart: Adagio and fugue in C minor, K546
Debussy: Danse sacrée et danse profane
Debussy: Quartet
Shostakovich: Quartet No.3

Tickets are £15 and can be booked online, or by calling the box office at 01728 885 650 or from Serendipity, Southwold and Focus Organic, Halesworth

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Photo courtesy Diane Shaw

“He made of the piano an orchestra of lamenting and exulting voices”, wrote Robert Schumann when the young Johannes Brahms visited him in Düsseldorf, a description that could equally well apply to Jonathan Plowright’s playing.

Hailed as “one of the finest living pianists” (Gramophone), Jonathan Plowright has been a regular visitor to Potton Hall since we arrived in 2003 and since then he has recorded all of his critically acclaimed solo CDs for the Hyperion label here, enjoying a close working relationship with Jeremy as his producer.

Jonathan’s two recordings of Bach piano transcriptions have attracted great critical acclaim, the Observer commenting of his British Bach Transcriptions: “Every so often a CD comes along that I simply can’t stop playing. Here’s one such example.” After Jonathan’s powerful Paderewski CD his Hommage a Chopin released last year received rave reviews in the music press and gathered many awards, including Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Diapason d’or, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Classic FM CD of the week and ABC Classic FM CD of the week.

Now Jonathan turns his attention to Brahms, and we are delighted to welcome him back to Potton Hall for this concert in which he will perform both works which he will be recording during the following few days for the first CD of his Brahms project. Brahms’ mighty Sonata in F minor was one of the works-in-progress that he played to Schumann at their memorable first meeting, Schumann describing Brahms’ sonatas as “veiled symphonies”. The Variations and fugue on a theme of Handel, Brahms’ affectionate and monumental tribute to his beloved eighteenth century was a favourite of Schumann’s wife Clara and ranks among the greatest sets of piano variations ever written.

We hope that you will join us for what will no doubt be a memorable evening with this world-renowned pianist in the intimate surroundings of the Potton Hall studio.

Programme:

Brahms Sonata in F Minor
2 Chopin Nocturnes
Brahms Variations & Fugue on a theme by Handel
Tickets which are £12 each can be booked online and are also available by calling our box office at 01728 648265 or please visit Serendipity, Southwold and Focus Organic, Halesworth

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Jessica Duchen (author/reader), Bradley Creswick (violin), Margaret Fingerhut (piano)

Hungarian Dances is a dazzling journey in words and music through the story of the bestselling novel of the same name by Jessica Duchen.

Jessica Duchen reads extracts from her acclaimed novel, which follows the turbulent story of a Gypsy girl who becomes a famous classical violinist, but at a terrible personal price.  The tale is richly illustrated with music performed by the renowned virtuoso violinist Bradley Creswick and the award-winning pianist Margaret Fingerhut, in a programme which includes music by Dohnanyi, Debussy, Brahms, Bartok and Ravel’s Tzigane, as well as some dazzling pieces in the Gypsy style.

The concert opens our weekend Kickstart Writing Course, a residential course led by Jessica herself.

Tickets which are £12 each can be booked online and are also available by calling our box office at 01728 648265 or please visit Serendipity, Southwold and Focus Organic, Halesworth

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