Following the success of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s latest Beethoven recital at Potton Hall in January we are delighted to announce that he will return to give the next two concerts in his Beethoven sonata series on June 3rd and September 19th this year. The programmes are as follows:

Monday, June 3rd at 7.30pm
Beethoven:
Sonata in G, Op.31 No.1
Sonata in D minor, Op.31 No.2 (“Tempest”)
Sonata in E flat, Op.31 No.3

Tickets are £15 and can be booked online here or by calling the box office 01728 648 265. They will also be available from Focus Organic, Halesworth and Serendipity, Southwold, in due course.

Thursday, September 19th at 7.30pm
Beethoven:
Sonata in G minor, Op.49 No.1
Sonata in G, Op.49 No.2
Sonata in D, Op.28 (“Pastoral”)
Sonata in C, Op.53 (“Waldstein”)

Tickets are £15 and can be booked online here or by calling the box office 01728 648 265. They will also be available from Focus Organic, Halesworth and Serendipity, Southwold, in due course.

Why not make a note in your diary now for these dates.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays Beethoven – Tuesday January 15th, 2013 at 7.30pm

In January our 15th Concert presents the popular French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet who returns to Potton Hall for the next installment in his series of Beethoven sonata performances.

Last year Jean-Efflam gave a memorable recital at Potton Hall including the three sonatas of Beethoven’s Op.10. This time he plays one of Beethoven’s most popular sonatas, the Moonlight as well as its companion work, the Sonata in E flat, Op.27 No.1. In the first part of his recital Jean-Efflam will perform Beethoven’s Funeral March Sonata, with its noble and sombre slow movement, written “on the death of a hero” and  the ebullient and vivacious Sonata in B flat, Op.22.

The first 3-CD box of Jean-Efflam’s Beethoven sonata recordings, made at Potton Hall for the Chandos label and released earlier this year has received unanimous critical acclaim and following his recital on January 13th Jean-Efflam will record the four sonatas in his programme for the next CD release in the series.

“This is one of the biggest discoveries I have come across in years - the Frenchman is on fire from first note to last. The only question now is: after such an outstanding start to his complete Beethoven cycle, how can Bavouzet maintain this sense of discovery – and how long must we wait for the next instalment?“ (FINANCIAL TIMES – May 25th 2012) *****

“Verdict: memorable Beethoven with Gallic elegance, fire and fervour. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet looks positively coy on the cover of his new Beethoven set and lightness and humour abound throughout the three discs. Revelations are many. How beautifully Bavouzet gauges the massive chords that introduce the Pathetique Sonata and what a drama-filled narrative he makes of its first movement. Bavouzet is in his prime and further Beethoven volumes are eagerly awaited.“ (NZ HERALD – July 7th 2012)

“Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is without doubt one of today’s most intelligent and questing pianists. The stunning articulation that characterised Bavouzet’s Haydn recordings is carried over to his Beethoven. This is a significant, fascinating issue.” (INTERNATIONAL PIANO – September/October 2012)

Jean-Efflam’s CDs will be on sale at the concert. Please come and join us for an unmissable event!

Programme:

Sonata in B flat, Op.22

Sonata in A flat, Op.26 (Funeral March)

Sonata in E flat, Op.27 No.1

Sonata in C sharp minor, Op.27 No.2 (Moonlight)

Tickets are £15 and can be booked online here or by calling the box office 01728 648 265. Also available from Focus Organic, Halesworth and Serendipity, Southwold

Sunday 30th September 2012 at 7:30pm

Come and join us for our autumn concert, given by the Schubert Ensemble. They are regular visitors to Potton Hall and have recorded their highly acclaimed CDs of Dvorak, Enescu, Fauré, Martinu, Schumann and Vaughan Williams here at Potton Hall.

In this concert members of the Ensemble will perform three works for piano trio. Beethoven wrote the delightful Allegretto for the daughter of his “Immortal Beloved” shortly after he completed his “Archduke” Trio, intending it “for the encouragement of her piano playing”.

Pablo Casals proclaimed that the Romanian George Enescu was “the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart” and he has been called the greatest great composer whose greatness is not generally recognised. The Schubert Ensemble has recorded Enescu’s piano quartets and their latest project is a recording of his great Piano Quintet and Piano Trio in A minor. The Trio will be recorded at Potton Hall the day after this concert. Much of the music in this Trio uses elements drawn from Romanian folksongs and dances but at the same time it reflects the tragic context of the First World War during which it was written.

Antonin Dvorak’s popular Trio in E minor is also based on folk music, specifically the Dumka, which alternates slow and fast sections. Dvorak wanted to create a work with a popular accent, describing the trio as being “both happy and sad”.

The Ensemble’s new recording of Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No.2 and Piano Quintet No.2 on the Chandos label has already been warmly received by the critics. It was chamber CD of the month in the BBC Music Magazine, which awarded the recording 5 stars for performance and 5 stars for sound. The disc was also chosen as CD of the week in the Independent on Sunday and on Classic FM.

Copies of the Schubert Ensemble’s CDs will be on sale at the concert.

There will also be a licensed bar.

Programme:
Beethoven: Allegretto in B flat major WoO 39
Enescu: Piano Trio in A minor
Dvorak: Piano Trio in E minor, Op.90 Dumky

Tickets are £12 and can be booked online here or by calling the box office 01728 648265. Also available from Focus Organic, Halesworth and Serendipity, Southwold

WEDNESDAY 11 July 2012 at 7.30pm

Come and join us for a Potton Hall first as a member of the audience for a concert which is being recorded for release on CD.

Robin Ireland and Tim Horton formed their Duo in 2009. Robin was the violist of the celebrated Lindsay String Quartet for twenty years, and brings his enormous musical experience and his love of performing to the small but wonderful repertoire for viola and piano. Tim is pianist with Ensemble 360, and is one of the most highly regarded chamber music pianists in the country, as well as being increasingly admired as a solo pianist. Robin and Tim met in Sheffield, where they both live, and instantly discovered a deep musical rapport and mutual respect. Their Duo partnership forms a small but precious part of their careers. Jeremy Hayes has collaborated with both musicians for many years, as recording producer of The Lindsays and Ensemble 360 and he worked with both of them here at Potton Hall on their first CD together, of music by Prokofiev and Shostakovich. In this concert Robin and Tim will be playing three masterpieces: the two sonatas by Johannes Brahms and the Arpeggione Sonata by Franz Schubert.

With his two sonatas for viola and piano Brahms effectively established a new genre, because before they were written there were virtually no major sonatas for viola and piano, except for the unfinished sonata by Glinka. These two marvellous works were Brahms’s very last pieces of chamber music, written in his twilight years as sonatas for clarinet and piano which Brahms then adapted, with a good deal of recomposition for viola and piano. Brahms often liked to compose dissimilar pairs of works and that is certainly the case with these two sonatas, the turbulent passion of the first contrasting with the more mellow and intimate second sonata.

Schubert’s exquisite Sonata, D821 was the only work of any significance to have been composed for the arpeggione. This curious hybrid instrument, a cross between a guitar and a cello, was invented in Vienna in 1823 but never attained popularity. Schubert’s sonata languished in obscurity, unpublished for decades after his death and was discovered in Vienna by the great British scholar Sir George Grove – he of the music dictionary fame.

Copies of Robin’s and Tim’s CDs will be on sale at the concert, including their acclaimed recording of Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata and six pieces from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet

“The (Shostakovich) Sonata, which received its premiere after the composer’s death in 1975, has a hypnotic power and is brilliantly played here by Robin Ireland and Tim Horton.” (New Classics.com)

“From the opening notes we become aware of the viola’s warm and very singing human voice.” (International Record Review)

“Robin Ireland is at his lyrical best in the’ Balcony Scene’ and unleashes great reserves of sound in the menacing ‘ Dance of the Knights’”  (The Strad)

“Ireland and his excellent colleague Tim Horton catch the soulful warmth of the Young Juliet……..Together they make a fine ensemble”  (MusicWeb International)

Programme:

Brahms: Sonata in F minor, Op.120 No.1
Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D821 (Arpeggione)
Brahms: Sonata in E flat major, Op.120 No.2

Tickets are £12 and can be booked online here or by calling the box office 01728 648265. Also available from Focus Organic, Halesworth and Serendipity, Southwold

Photo Paul Mitchell

BEETHOVEN PREMIERE AT POTTON HALL

Fresh from receiving his latest Gramophone award, for his recording of the Ravel concertos and Debussy’s Fantasie, the charismatic French pianist, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, returns to Potton Hall for the next installment in his series of Beethoven sonata performances.

Last year Jean-Efflam gave an unforgettable recital at Potton Hall including Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata and this time he will play the three sonatas of Beethoven’s Op.10.

Jean-Efflam will also give the first public performance of an earlier version of the first of these sonatas, including a discarded scherzo and an expanded version of the finale. This first sonata of the Op.10 sets an intense, dramatic work in the significant key of C Minor. These are highly contrasting works, beginning with the intense drama of the first, in the significant key of C minor in which the shadow of fate – alias Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony – is never far away. The second of the sonatas is more relaxed, even humorous and tongue-in-cheek at times and the Op.10 set is crowned by the grand and magnificent third sonata, one of the young Beethoven’s greatest achievements.

Jean-Efflam has recently had great reviews for the latest CDs in his Haydn project, all recorded at Potton Hall: “These performances sound natural, appropriate and in perfect structural and expressive proportion… Bavouzet’s recordings have a strong claim to be the finest Haydn playing of recent vintage on modern piano. They are the work of an insightful musician of profound culture and wide interests, whose intellectual and emotional identification with Haydn is unreserved, and whose playing, beautifully captured in technical terms, is a delight to listen to.” (International Record Review, April 2011).

“Bavouzet is perhaps the ideal pianist for Haydn: his clarity of touch, quickness of wit and sensitivity to different soundworlds make him an empathetic interpreter… Just the finesse and vibrancy we’ve come to expect from this superb artist.” (Classic FM Magazine, June 2011)

“Cleanly precise, sure-fingered yet beautifully delicate, Bavouzet warms the heart with his humour and gentle passion… A recording worth rushing to the shops for.” (Haydn: Sonatas Vol. 3 – Classic FM Magazine, November 2011)

Jean-Efflam has recently recorded Debussy’s early Piano Trio at Potton Hall with members of the Brodsky Quartet and produced by Jeremy Hayes and after this concert he will record these three Beethoven sonatas for forthcoming release on the Chandos label.

This concert should be unmissable!

Programme:

Sonata in C minor, Op.10 No.1
Sonata in C minor, Op.10 No.1 (first performance of early version)
Sonata in F, Op.10 No.2
Sonata in D, Op.10 No.3

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

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

“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

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

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

It’s delightfully white here at Potton Hall – ready for our Christmas concert! You can look forward to a concert of festive music performed by the extremely talented North Suffolk Youth Choir directed by Vetta Wise and accompanied by Jonathan Rutherford, recorded live for their first CD in the beautiful surroundings of the Potton Hall Recording Studio.

“There are no passengers in this choir.  I predict a promising future for them.” Lin Marshall, Adjudicator, Norfolk Music Festival

Download the promotional poster here

Sunday 5th December 2010 4pm

Tickets £5, under 12s free

or call 01728 885 650. Also available from Morlings in Lowestoft, Serendipity in Southwold and Focus Organic in Halesworth