News
18/1/2012
Benjamin Britten Centenary
Benjamin Britten was the Club's first President from its formation in 1951 until his death in 1976 and during that time he gave some memorable recitals with Peter Pears. The 100th anniversary of his birth falls on 22nd November 2013 (which is also St Cecilia's Day, the patron saint of music). The anniversary year will be from 22 November 2012 to 22 November 2013 and during that period music promoters all over East Anglia will be encouraged to performs his works. The Music Cub will of course concentrate on the chamber works and song cycles - details will be published before the end of the current season.
17/1/2012
François-Frédéric Guy and Jean-Eflam Bavouzet: Wigmore Hall recital
We make no apology for including another news item about François-Frédéric Guy: it is good to have opportunities to hear him in this country and this time he will be appearing with another of our performers. On 2nd July 2012 he will be giving a BBC 3 Lunchtime concert at the Wigmore Hall of works for two pianos with Jean-Eflam Bavouzet (who will be giving a recital for us on 11th February). Full details are available on the Wigmore Hall website
16/1/2012
François-Frédéric Guy: Queen Elizabeth Hall Recital
Last year François-Frédéric Guy gave us wonderful performances of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, and a few weeks ago he stepped in at very short notice to replace Radu Lupu, again providing us with a splendid recital. We are beginning to feel that he is an old friend of the Club. On 20th March he will be giving a recital at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the South Bank International Piano Recital series. The programme is made up of Beethoven Sonatas, including the Hammerclavier Sonata for which he is justly famous. It also includes the Pastoral and Moonlight Sonatas. A party of about 25 members from Norwich have booked to go to this event - anyone interested should contact Roger Rowe.
16/1/2012
James Ehnes's Bartók Recordings
Immediately after James Ehnes gave a recital for the club in February 2011 he recorded a CD of the Bartók Violin & Viola Concertos. When it was issued last year it was selected as the Gramophone disc of the month for November 2011. Together with Andrew Armstrong, he has followed this with a recording of the Bartók Sonatas and Rhapsodies which he played at a memorable Chapel concert in May last year. Once again the recordings were made at Potton Hall in Suffolk immediately after his Norwich recital. The disc has yet to be reviewed but preliminary reports are that this is also an outstanding CD (Chandos, CHAN 10705).
20/12/2011
BBC Music Magazine recommends Natalie Clein weekend
The January 2012 edition of BBC Music Magazine lists the Natalie Clein weekend on 21st and 22nd January 2012 as one of its '20 Unmissable Events' for the month. Tickets are available from Prelude Records. Natalie Clein is also performing at the Chapel on 20th January 2012.
19/12/2011
New Beethoven Discs from François-Frédéric Guy
For many people François-Frédéric Guy's performances of the Beethoven piano sonatas formed one of the highlights of the 2010/2011 season. They may be interested to know that the first volume of his recordings of these sonatas has just been released. The three-disc set contains eleven sonatas: Op. 7, Op. 10/1-3, Op. 13 Pathétique, Op.14/1-2,Op. 22, Op. 26, Op. 27/1-2 Moonlight. It is on the Zig Zag Territoires label with a catalogue number of ZZT111101.
17/11/2011
Cancellation of Radu Lupu's Concert
Hilary Battye, the Club's Chairman, has written to members as follows:
Radu Lupu Concert 14th December. We have just heard that sadly Radu Lupu has had to cancel his engagements for the rest of this year due to a shoulder injury. He does, however hope to reschedule the concert at some time in the future.
Obviously this is a great disappointment since it promised to be the
highlight of the season. However we are delighted to say that François-Frédéric Guy, who proved to be such
a success with his Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle, has very kindly agreed to step in at short notice.
His programme will be:
Debussy: Prelude from Book 2
Liszt: Benediction from Harmonies Poétiques
Schubert: Sonata in A Major D959
This cancellation is obviously a great disappointment to all of us. We hope, and indeed feel sure that you will support us in the new arrangements made at short notice.
Yours,
Hilary Battye
Chairman
P.S. Contact details for any queries:
Angela Skeggs Tel: 01603 427528 Email: clskeggs@tiscali.co.uk
8/11/2011
New Grants to the Schools' Project
The Club's Schools' Project (now in its 13th year) is available free to participating local state primary schools. To enhance donations from members, we seek funds from various charities to cover the costs of the professional musicians. We have just heard that the trustees of The Woodroffe Benton Foundation have agreed to give grants towards those costs for not just one, but four years, starting in August 2012. We are delighted by this generous support. Now we just need to raise the balance!
4/11/2011
James Ehnes's CD named as Gramophone Recording of the Month
The November edition of Gramophone magazine has named James Ehnes's Chandos recording of the Bartók violin and viola concertos as Recording of the Month. The recording sessions began the day after his memorable performance (with Andrew Armstrong) of music by Debussy, Bartók and Beethoven at the John Innes Centre in February of this year. He later performed at the Chapel and he will do so again in May 2012.
3/11/2011
Review of Chaconne Brass Ensemble Concert
In the Eastern Daily Press of 1st November Christopher Smith reviewed the Chaconne Brass concert that had taken place at the John Innes Centre on 28th October. He commented: “Not every Norfolk & Norwich Chamber Music concert has to be entirely serious. On this occasion it felt as if the Christmas party had come early. Bubbling over with skill, the five Chaconne Brass performers showed their talent in a musical entertainment that was presented with cheerful verve.”
28/10/2011
BBC Music Magazine recommends Radu Lupu concert
The December edition of BBC Music Magazine lists Radu Lupu's performance of works by Franck, Schubert and Debussy as the third of its ‘20 Unmissable Events’ for the month. This recital will take place first at Holkham Hall and then at the Club's concert at the John Innes Centre on December 14th.
This concert is sold out. Some returns may be available.
13/10/2011
Award for Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
The pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has won the Concerto category in this year's Gramophone awards for his recording of works by Debussy and Ravel. He will be appearing at one of the Club's concerts at the John Innes Centre in February 2012 when he will perform works by Haydn, Bartók and Debussy.
5/10/2011
Death of David Bedford
The composer David Bedford died on October 1st. Long-standing members may recall that David was present when the Schidlof Quartet gave the first performance of his String Quartet No 2 at the very first Music Club concert at the John Innes Centre on 30th May 1998. It was subsequently repeated and recorded at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival later that year.
26/9/2011
Review of Opening Concert
The opening concert of the season was given by the Chroma Ensemble on 24 September. It was reviewed by Christopher Smith in the Eastern Daily Press under the headline “Bold choice of programme and a fine premiere.” He commented on Anna Meredith's work “Railgun” that it “...created an impression of vital force...(that) caught the mood of a celebratory occasion.” The piece had been commissioned by the Club to mark its 60th anniversary.
29/4/2011
Broadcast Concerts
During the 2010/2011 season BBC Radio 3 recorded the recitals on 16th October (Skampa/Tan), 30th January (Henschels/Con Brio), 20th February (Danish String Quartet) and 16th April (Michelangelo String Quartet). These will be transmitted as a series of lunchtime concerts from Norfolk and Norwich Chamber Music at 1:00pm on Tuesday 27th September to Friday 30th September 2011.
15/3/2011
Highlights of the next season
Information about some of the highlights of Norfolk and Norwich Chamber Music concerts for 2011/12 has now been released. The season starts in September with a visit from some old friends of the Club, the Chroma Chamber Ensemble. Their concert will include a new work that the Club has commissioned from Anna Meredith to mark its 60th anniversary. More old friends return in October when the Takács Quartet will play the complete Bartok Quartet cycle over the course of a weekend.
Some of the most memorable concerts of recent years have been of piano music, and the new season promises to live up to this, with a performance by Radu Lupu in December 2011 and two recitals by Artur Pizarro in April 2012. Another weekend of concerts will take place in January with Natalie Clein and friends.
6/3/2011
The 2011 Education Project
The Eastern Daily Press on 5 March included a report of the Chroma Ensemble's visit to Yaxham Primary School. This was followed by a letter from Masha Smith, the Music and Art Subject Leader at the school, explaining that this visit was organised by the Norfolk and Norwich Music Club (as part of this year's Education Project) and commenting that “... for 13 years this music club has been providing schools with beautiful, live music played by top class musicians.”
18/2/2011
BBC Music Magazine rates Beethoven Sonata Cycle as ‘unmissable’
The March edition of BBC Music Magazine lists the Norwich Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle performed by François-Frédéric Guy as 5th in its ‘20 unmissable events for March 2011’ (pages 98/99). On page 99 there is also a short interview with the pianist about the concerts.
18/2/2011
Norwich culture vulture, Tony Cooper, reports on a Beethoven piano feast
The Diamond Jubilee season of the Norfolk and Norwich Music Club draws to a rather nice close with the brilliant young French pianist, François-Frédéric Guy, performing the complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas over a ten-day period starting on Friday March 25 and ending on Sunday April 3.
8/2/2011
Anniversary Concert Open to the Public
On 26th May 2011 a concert is being held in the Assembly House to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Club. Because of limited space, the sale of tickets was originally restricted to members of the Club. A limited number of tickets are now available for sale to non-members.
17/11/2010
Commissioning of New Work
As part of the Club's 60th Anniversary celebrations Anna Meredith has been commissioned to write a work for piano sextet which will be performed at the opening concert of the 2011/2012 season. Anna first came to public attention through her piece froms for the BBC Last Night of the 2008 Proms. More importantly she has just received the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award 2010 given to a very limited number of exceptional young composers. Joanna MacGregor, the pianist and broadcaster, who was a judge for this year's Awards for Composers, said: "The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists offer generous, absolutely indispensable, no-strings-attached support over a period of three years. The three outstanding composers chosen this year have unique backgrounds and voices - all of them are original, challenging, and supremely imaginative, making music and breaking boundaries in ways that are vitally energising and creative. I'm delighted to have been involved in this prestigious Award".
17/11/2010
Beethoven CDs
François-Frédéric Guy, who will perform the complete Beethoven Sonata Cycle for the Club between 25th March and 3rd April 2011, has just released his complete box set of the Beethoven Piano Concertos under the naïve label.
17/11/2010
Schubert CDs
Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne who gave a stunning concert of Schubert duets last January recorded the complete recital one week later for Hyperion. It has just been released and is the Editor's Choice in this month's Gramophone describing the pianists as a "...dream team... from the first moment you are gripped, transported into a world of musical imagination from which you are never released." Hyperion CDA67665