Archive for What we're playing
Folk Session
Last Wednesday, I took my violin and went along to a folk music session at the back of the Red Lion Pub in Haddenham. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Haddenham recently distributing leaflets for our forthcoming string quartet concert on the 16th of July which will take place in St Mary’s Church [...]
Tony’s Cello Journey
It’s always exciting to bring news of what various quartet members are doing individually and this week I wanted to write a little about Tony’s new album ‘Cello Journey’ which is currently flying off the shelves at HMV and other music outlets.
Although he’s a passionate chamber musician, Tony wanted to create an album of contemporary [...]
Viennese Dances
It’s always exciting to take delivery of a new load of sheet music and this week, we’ve added considerably to our bulging shelves by acquiring a sparkling array of Viennese Dance pieces - ideal for themed events, palm court evenings or possibly a lively and light-hearted Viennese New Years Day concert.
The most well known composer of this style of music [...]
Candlelit Concert, St Giles, Cheddington
On Friday the 11th December we really got into the Christmas spirit with a programme of winter and festive music performed by candlelight in our village Church, St Giles, Cheddington. This is the fourth time we’ve performed in the church and word seems to have got around because by the week of the concert, the organisers [...]
Three Ships, Harvest Time and Droplets
With the first of our Christmas String Quartet Concerts fast approaching, we wanted to devote some of yesterdays rehearsal time to playing through the first of the completed Christmas carol arrangements which we’ll be performing. The first concert will be on the 11th of December in St Giles Church, Cheddington and the second will see us [...]
Three, Four and Five….
Yesterday was another cold and rainy day, so a perfect opportunity to stay indoors exploring more lesser known pieces of chamber music for strings. Tony and Hannah (both cellists) were due to arrive at 4pm, so before lunch we got going with some pieces written for two violins and viola. As the range of instruments [...]
Learning a Violin Concerto by Heart
It is now a couple of weeks since I performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto for the first time with an orchestra. Many people have said it’s not a work violinists should attempt before the age of 40 and as I am rapidly approaching that age (big birthday next year!) and have loved that piece for the last 32 years of [...]
Coming Out of the Silence
I have recently been learning the Beethoven violin concerto from memory for a performance last Saturday with a local orchestra, and the whole process has been full of insights and rewards at every step. Like few other works of this kind for the violin, the Beethoven is a true journey which organically develops from the opening, magical [...]
The Rhythmic Flow of Music
The rhythmic pulse or beat is in many ways the foundation of all music. Listening to indigenous music forms as well as those dating back several centuries, we can hear that there are many expressive forms where the melody is not particularly well developed, but the sense of a vibrant pulse or beat is very much [...]
From Beer to Bazzini….
On Friday we got together in a sunny conservatory at Louise’s house to play through some more chamber works, with a view to finding pieces for forthcoming recitals and exploring some neglected pieces. I had picked at random a selection of string quartets from the shelves and we decided to spend the morning looking at a well known work [...]