Aylesbury Lunchtime Music presents

Ewan Millar & Tomos Boyles

Print version
7 March 2024

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

Duration: 1 hour (approx.)

St Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury

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

Ewan Millar and Tomos Boyles

Programme

The duo will perform the Adagio from Marcello’s concerto

  • 1673-1747

    Oboe Concerto in D minor, S D. 935 (Marcello)
    i Andante e spiccato ii Adagio iii Presto

    The Oboe Concerto in D minor, S D935, is an early 18th-century concerto for oboe, strings and continuo attributed to the Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello. The earliest extant manuscript containing Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo keyboard arrangement of the concerto, BWV 974, dates from around 1715. As a concerto for oboe, strings and continuo its oldest extant sources date from 1717: that year it was printed in Amsterdam, and a C minor variant of the concerto, S Z799, was written down.

  • 1929-1994

    Poeme (Dranishnikova)

    Marina Dranishnikova (1929 – 1994) was born into a musical family. Her father was conductor and composer Vladimir Alexandrovich Dranishnikov, who was music director at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg (1925-1932), and a friend and contemporary of Prokofiev. She wrote Poème for oboe and piano in 1953, a challenging work, not least for its shifts of key and its changing figuration.

  • 1819-1896

    Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22 (Schumann)
    i Andante molto ii Allegretto iii Leidenschaftlich schnell

    The Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22 of Clara Schumann, were written in 1853 and first published in 1855. Having moved to Düsseldorf in 1853, Clara Schumann, who said that “Women are not born to compose,” produced several works, including these three romances. Dedicated to the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim, Schumann and Joachim went on tour with them, even playing them before King George V of Hanover, who was “completely ecstatic” upon hearing them. A critic for the Neue Berliner Musikzeitung praised them, declaring: “All three pieces display an individual character conceived in a truly sincere manner and written in a delicate and fragrant hand.” Stephen Pettitt for The Times, wrote, “Lush and poignant, they make one regret that Clara’s career as a composer became subordinate to her husband’s.”

  • 1862-1918

    Beau Soir, L. 84 (Debussy)

    “Beau soir” (“Beautiful Evening”) is set to a poem by Paul Bourget. The poem paints the picture of a beautiful evening where the rivers are turned rose-colored by the sunset and the wheat fields are moved by a warm breeze. Debussy uses a gently flowing triplet rhythm in the accompaniment, which contrasts the duplets that drive the light melody. The piano and voice partner to create the sensation of peace that one might feel in the evening in nature, fitting the post-Romantic stye. As any evening fades, however, so does the mood of the piece, and the song modulates from E major to F-sharp minor. The piece reaches its climax when the melody reaches a high F-sharp, paired with the word “beau”, about two-thirds through the piece, before entering its modulated conclusion.

  • 1908-1992

    Vocalise-Etude (Messiaen)

    Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (1908 – 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex. Harmonically and melodically, he employed a system he called modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from the systems of material his early compositions and improvisations generated. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, voice, solo organ, and piano, and experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime.

  • 1987-

    Manhattanhenge (Facer)

    Peter Facer is considered to be one of the most talented oboists and cor anglais players of his generation. He has served as principal on both instruments in many of the leading British orchestras and for three years was principal oboe with the West Australian symphony orchestra. He grew up in Hertfordshire, and then attended Girton College Cambridge, where he read music, graduating with a double first class degree. He then studied as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he graduated with distinction and earned the DipRAM for an outstanding final exam.

Performers

  • Ewan Millar & Tomos Boyles

    Oboe/Piano Duo

    Royal Academy of Music Duo Ewan Millar and Tomos Boyles perform oboe and piano recitals
    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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