Schubert Four Impromptus D899
Schubert Sonata in C minor D958
Beethoven Sonata in B flat Op 106 ‘Hammerklavier’
Peter Donohoe’s contribution to music is immense, with a reputation built internationally, nationally, and here in the Midlands – particularly with the CBSO from Simon Rattle’s time, but in recent times too.
Leamington Music welcomes him back with a programme that will thrill and delight – late Schubert and Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’, the colossus among his thirty-two piano sonatas, needing Herculean strength and surpassing tenderness. This is a truly Festival programme, most eagerly awaited.
Simpson Variations and Finale on a theme of Haydn
Beethoven Sonata in F minor Op 57 ‘Appassionata’
Coventry-born, and a noted pupil of Aldo Ciccolini, The Times has called Mark Bebbington “truly a remarkable pianist”; his international career has taken off in recent years, and we welcome this great champion of British music back to Leamington.
Mark has recorded extensively for the Somm label to critical acclaim, with no fewer than nine of his recent CDs awarded 5 stars by BBC Music Magazine.
Simpson’s Haydn Variations dates from 1948 and, with the Piano Sonata, represents the absolute best of his writing for keyboard. This paring with Beethoven’s most explosive and tempestuous sonata is an absolute must-hear.
Maxwell Davies Fanfare Salute to Dennis Brain Op 227b
Beethoven Sonata for Horn and Piano in F Op 17
Simpson Trio for Horn, Piano and Violin
Brahms Trio in E flat
Another champion of the music of Robert Simpson, Richard Watkins recorded the Trio nine years after its completion in 1984, and we begin the concert with a tribute to the great horn player, Dennis Brain, who shares Simpson’s centenary this year.
Beethoven’s Sonata was written at an exciting time of the most important developments in all wind instruments. And to follow, with the addition of the violin, this unusual combination of instruments brings the concert to a wonderful climax in Brahms’s glorious composition.
Richard Watkins is joined by two illustrious colleagues for this wonderfully crafted programme. Magnus Johnston is well known to Leamington audiences having performed here with both the Navarra Quartet and the Aronowitz Ensemble. Michael McHale is much in demand as a collaborator, and last played for Leamington Music with clarinettist Michael Collins in the 2017 Festival.
Leonore Piano Trio
Benjamin Nabarro violin | Gemma Rosefield cello | Tim Horton piano
Haydn Trio in C Hob.XV:21
Beethoven Trio in B flat Op 97 ‘Archduke’
We look forward to welcoming back Leamington Music favourites, the Leonore Piano Trio, to the Royal Pump Rooms for the first time since May 2019 – the last Festival we were able to put on there!
This delightful programme brings works by two of Robert Simpson’s most championed composers. Simpson referenced Haydn’s music in many of his own works, and this joyful Trio was one of the last that Haydn wrote.
The ‘Archduke’, too, was the last of Beethoven’s contributions to the genre. It is a grand work of vast proportion and emotional depth, which can surely go to show why Simpson – and so many others – held Beethoven’s music in such high esteem.