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

Photo courtesy jeremynicholas.com

We’re honoured and very grateful to Jeremy Nicholas who took the time to review Libor Novacek’s concert at Potton Hall last Saturday night.

It says something for the discernment and dogged determination of rural East Anglians that they forsake the dubious pleasures of Strictly and The X Factor, venture out on a chilly night, wend their way to a discreet location at the end of a half mile track and attend a piano recital by a pianist of whom most of them had never heard.
Most of the full house would, I guess, be only too willing to repeat the exercise if future recitals are to be anything like that given by the young Czech pianist Libor Novacek last Saturday. Potton Hall, increasingly the recording location of choice for international pianists, doubles as a concert hall. It’s a relatively new venture: Novacek’s was only the 6th recital to be given there. With its superb new Steinway, warm, translucent acoustic and intimate atmosphere, the venue offers a welcome alternative to the brick-lined chill of the Snape Maltings (and you are offered complimentary mints as an aid to ward off coughs and splutters).
There are other nice touches like the pre-recital chat between the artist and Potton Hall’s supremo, former senior Radio 3 producer Jeremy Hayes. We not only hear something about the music about to be played but also get a flavour of the artist himself. It breaks down the invisible wall. We feel more connected. It’s no longer us and him. Before he played a note, Novacek had the audience in the palm of his hand.
Haydn’s Sonata in C (Hob.XV1/50) opened proceedings, its two outer movements wittily pointed and playfully quirky, the broad central Adagio given an almost elegiac quality. This airy, lightly-pedalled confection was in complete contrast to Janáček’s suite On An Overgrown Path. The fragmentary motifs derived from folksong and speech patterns that inform Janáček’s unique sound world are heard in ten short pieces inspired by childhood memories and anguish over the death of his daughter. Their stark and sombre character is not the kind to raise spirits but Novacek, playing from the score, produced a kaleidoscope of tonal colours in a performance of deep affection and thoughtful introspection.
After the interval he offered us the two Op.48 Nocturnes of Chopin. The first, surely one of the Polish composer’s most affecting works, more Ballade than Nocturne, was given an impassioned reading followed by its more subdued F sharp minor companion. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition presents a formidable challenge to any pianist, not merely technically but in terms of characterisation and overall structure. This was as fine a performance as I can remember from the vicious duologue of Gnome to the imperious, awe-inspiring Great Gate of Kiev. Novacek was on fire and his daring, adrenalin-fuelled performance had the audience cheering. How to follow that with an encore? ‘I think I have shown I can play Grade Eight,’ Novacek announced, ‘but I haven’t shown that I can also play Grade One.’ His choice was the simplest of things, A Musical Box by Anon.. Charming – and a perfect end to a memorable evening. When Novacek returns to Potton Hall, as he surely will, his new East Anglian fan club will return in droves to hear him again.
Jeremy Nicholas

Photo courtesy libornovacek.com

When the young Czech pianist Libor Novacek won the first Landor Competition in 2005, the prize was a CD recording with Jeremy at Potton Hall. An instant connection was made between Libor and Jeremy and an acclaimed CD of music by Janacek, Martinu and Ravel was the result of their first collaboration. Libor has found the studio and its surroundings so inspiring that he has returned many times and used it many times as an artistic retreat when preparing for major recordings and concerts, often talking about music and playing and listening well into the night. As a young musician living in a foreign country, we have welcomed Libor into our family and as well as providing us with musical stimulation he has proved to be a very popular playmate for our two children and an excellent cook as well!

Libor has gone on to record a further three CDs with Jeremy at Potton Hall of music by Brahms and Liszt. His recordings are firm favourites with music lovers and critics alike and Libor has won various awards for them. We are very excited to welcome this talented young pianist to the Potton Hall Concert Series.  Read Libor’s biography here

Tickets are £12 each and are best booked online or by calling the Potton Hall Box Office at 01728 885 650 or at local retail outlets: Serendipity in Southwold & Focus Organic in Halesworth

Libor programme is as follows:

Haydn Sonata in C Major

Janacek – On An Overgrown Path

Interval

Chopin 2 Nocturnes Op 48

Mussorgsky -  Pictures at an Exhibition

"I enjoyed the Hall and the new piano so very much!!! Many thanks to you all! Jean-Efflam

It has been more than a week since Potton Hall was treated to a wonderful concert by the acclaimed pianist Jean Efflam-Bavouzet.

For me, it was a concert of command and charisma and the pleasure was heightened by Jeremy and Jean-Efllam’s discussion before each half of the performance. No where have I learnt so much about the intensity of the intepretation than listenting to the two of them test each other’s depth of knowledge on the Beethoven piano sonatas.

I thought I’d include the words of one of our audience, Katherine Riddell who kindly wrote in to us*:

On Monday evening, I had the rare privilege of listening to a fabulous
recital of Beethoven’s sonatas by a world class pianist in a stunning
venue. The rarity was that virtuoso Jean-Efflam Bavouzet was not
performing at a concert hall in London or New York but at Potton Hall
in Suffolk.

Potton Hall is becoming the place to hear the very best in classical
music in this part of the world. My advice to everyone is to get
tickets whilst you can, it won’t be long before demand will far
outstrip supply.

The concert was followed by three days of intense recording afterwhich Jean-Efflam whisked his way off to Russia for a performance. Thank you again Jean-Efflam and we look forward to seeing you again at Potton Hall.

If you’d like to download the autographed programme : please be aware that it’s 5.5mb in size.

* we love hearing your feedback on the concerts, whether its an informal review or something a little more qualified, please share with us by emailing reviews @ pottonhall.com

Bavouzet 'auditions' our new piano at Steinway in London

Potton Hall has a new arrival – a brand new Steinway Model D grand piano. Four of the world’s top concert pianists helped us to select the new piano: Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Louis Lortie and Martin Roscoe. Ulrich Gerhartz, Senior Technician at Steinway had earmarked four instruments for us to try and thankfully, the four concert pianists unanimously chose the same instrument.  You could say that the piano has the musical “royal stamp of approval’!

We took delivery of the piano about two weeks ago and it is settling in well – three recordings have been made on the instrument and the feedback from the musicians has been wonderful.

Suffolk will be in for a treat on Monday 27th September when they will be able to attend the first performance on our the new Steinway. The acclaimed pianist, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet will give a recital of Beethoven sonatas including the Pathetique. Bavouzet appeared at the Proms in August, where he performed Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with The Philharmonia orchestra. He is very much in demand around the world as a soloist and this is such a coup for us to get him to do a concert at Potton Hall – this will be the only performance of this programme he is giving in the UK this season.   This will be the eve of his next recording project at Potton Hall, where he will record the complete Beethoven piano sonatas for the Colchester-based recording label, Chandos.

We are so excited that such a superstar will be giving the first public performance on our brand new Steinway grand piano, here at Potton Hall.  Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is an exceptional musician and oozes charisma – I can’t wait to hear him!  He is so much in demand around the world at the moment but because he chooses to record his cds at Potton Hall, we are able to give local people the chance to hear him in the intimate surroundings of the studio.  This will no doubt be a memorable occasion!

Tickets for the concert are selling fast, but there are still some available online here or by phone from 01728 648265, or from Focus Organic, Halesworth and Serendipity in Southwold.