Aylesbury Lunchtime Music presents

Sarah Williamson & Viv McLean

6 June 2024

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

Duration: 1 hour (approx.)

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

  • Sarah Williamson Clarinet
  • Viv McLean

Programme

  • 1926-2022

    Sonatina For Clarinet and Piano (Horovitz)

    i Allegro Calmato ii Lento quasi andante iii Con brio

    Joseph Horovitz (1926 – 2022) was an Austrian-born British composer and conductor best known for his 1970 pop cantata Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo, which achieved widespread popularity in schools. Horovitz also composed music for television, including the theme music for the Thames Television series Rumpole of the Bailey, and was a prolific composer of ballet, orchestral (including nine concertos), brass band, wind band and chamber music. He considered his fifth string quartet (1969) to be his best work.

  • 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.

  • Interlude Pieces (Williamson)

    Boreas blows across the icy lakes

    Boreas is the god of the winter winds, eerily wailing and wandering around the mountain plateau, down lonely mountain passes and valleys, and over frozen lakes to the snowline and the foothills beyond, to mingle and be comforted by the warmer air of the lowlands. The mood is lyrical and yearning but becomes warm and resolved.

  • 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.

Performers

  • Sarah Williamson

    Clarinet

    “A tenacious player like Williamson doesn’t need gimmicks – her sonorous timbre and natural musicality speak for themselves” BBC Music Magazine

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  • Viv McLean

    Piano

    Described by Le Monde as “possessing the genius one finds in those who know how to forget themselves“, since winning First Prize at the Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, British pianist Viv McLean has performed in all the major venues in the UK as well as throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA.

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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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