University of Leeds Summer Music Festival 2024

Ticket info will be added shortly

With the Marsyas Trio and Christopher Jones (violin)

KEYS TO REVOLUTION

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel Trio in D Minor (arr. by Mark Gotham for flute, cello & piano)

Claude Debussy Pagodes (piano solo)

J.S. Bach Adagio from Toccata in E minor BWV 914 (piano solo)

Scriabin Vers la flamme (piano solo)

INTERVAL

Johann Nepomuk Hummel  Adagio, Variations and Rondo on Schöne Minka Theme Op.78 (flute, cello & piano)

W.A. Mozart Piano concerto No. 466 (arr. by Hummel for keyboard, flute, violin & cello)

About the programme:

In the short space of less than 100 years between 1770 and 1860, piano underwent an astonishing evolution. Utilizing the cutting-edge technologies and manufacturing methods that became available thanks to the Industrial Revolution, Cristofori’s original 4-octave “gravicembalo col piano e forte” (harpsichord with soft and loud) quickly developed into the magnificent concert grand we know today – the instrument without which the history of Western classical music would be a different affair.

In this concert, the Marsyas Trio (the FUAM Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Leeds) celebrates the versatility of piano as a solo and chamber instrument and showcases its limitless expressive palette. The programme also illuminates piano’s crucial role as composers’ trusted companion in creating and disseminating larger orchestral works.

By 1844 there were more than 9,000 arrangements of works in circulation including symphonies, concerti and operas. Known by Beethoven as ‘translations’, these orchestral works were often released simultaneously in several chamber ensemble versions, arranged by eminent composers of the day in consultation with the composers.

Hummel and Clementi, both virtuoso pianists themselves, arranged most of Beethoven’s symphonies and many of Haydn and Mozart’s symphonies and concerti, one of which – Mozart’s dramatic and sublimely beautiful Piano Concerto in D minor K.446 – takes centre stage in tonight’s programme.