Aylesbury Lunchtime Music presents

Dmytro Fonariuk & Xiaowen Shang

13 July 2023

Starts: 12:45pm, Doors: 12:15pm

Duration: 1 hour (approx.)

£7 adults on the door (<18s & carers free)

dymtro fonariuk and xiaowen shang

Programme

  • 1883-1897

    Clarinet Sonata No. 1, Op. 120 (Brahms)

    i Allegro Appassionato ii Andante un poco Adagio iii Allegretto graziozo iv Vivace

    The Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120, Nos. 1 and 2, are a pair of works written for clarinet and piano by the Romantic composer Johannes Brahms. They were written in 1894 and are dedicated to the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. The sonatas stem from a period late in Brahms’s life where he discovered the beauty of the sound and tonal colour of the clarinet. The form of the clarinet sonata was largely undeveloped until after the completion of these sonatas, after which the combination of clarinet and piano was more readily used in composers’ new works. These were the last chamber pieces Brahms wrote before his death and are considered two of the great masterpieces in the clarinet repertoire. Brahms also produced a frequently performed transcription of these works for viola with alterations to better suit the instrument.

  • 1899-1963

    Clarinet Sonata, FP 184 (Poulenc)

    i Allegro tristamente ii Romanza iii Allegro Con Fuoco

    The Sonate pour clarinette et piano (Clarinet Sonata), FP 184, for clarinet in B-flat and piano by Francis Poulenc dates from 1962 and is one of the last pieces he completed. It is dedicated to the memory of Arthur Honegger, who like Poulenc had belonged to the group Les Six.

  • 1900-1990

    Clarinet Concerto (Copland)

    2 movements played back-to-back, linked by a cadenza

    Copland acknowledged that his signature “bittersweet lyricism” like in the 1st movement of the Clarinet Concerto may have been influenced by his feelings of loneliness and social alienation over his homosexuality. Copland writes: “The instrumentation being clarinet with strings, harp, and piano, I did not have a large battery of percussion to achieve jazzy effects, so I used slapping basses and whacking harp sounds to simulate them. The Clarinet Concerto ends with a fairly elaborate coda in C major that finishes off with a clarinet glissando – or “smear” in jazz lingo.”

  • 1842-1912

    Elegie (Lysenko)

    Lysenko was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist of the late Romantic period. In his time he was the central figure of Ukrainian music, with an oeuvre that includes operas, art songs, choral works, orchestral and chamber pieces, and a wide variety of solo piano music. He is often credited with founding a national music tradition during the Ukrainian national revival, in the vein of contemporaries such as Grieg in Norway, The Five in Russia as well as Smetana and Dvořák in what is now the Czech Republic.

  • Japanese Suite (Demchyshyn)

    i Dreams ii My impressions of Japan iii Pulse of life

    Rostyslav Demchyshyn,was born in Lviv (Ukraine) and is a composer/conductor He began to learn to play on the piano at the age of five and studied at the Ukrainian Mykola Lvsenko Music Conservatory in Lviv. He created and headed the Galitski Symphony Orchestra. Dreams is from the Japanese Suite for clarinet and strings.

Performers

  • Dmytro Fonariuk & Xiaowen Shang

    Clarinet/Piano Duo

    Royal Academy of Music duo, Ukrainian clarinettist Dmytro Fonariuk and versatile pianist Xiaowen Shang
    Read More

Key information for concert goers

When

Every Thursday at 12:45pm (except August & over Christmas). Performances last around 60 minutes. Please enter quietly as there is a noon service in the Lady Chapel.

How much?

Entry is £7 per adult (card or cash), under 18s and carers are free. The price includes a programme. Donations are welcomed to subsidise the larger ensembles.

Where?

Performances are at St Mary’s Church in the heart of Aylesbury Old Town. See directions for further details.

Do I need to book?

No, just turn up. Doors open at 12:15 pm. Make sure you arrive in good time to get a seat.

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