THE BELFAST MUSIC SOCIETY CLER ELEBRITY CONCERTS 1989-90- AT THE ELMWOOD HALL

1 BARBICAN PIANO TRIO SOPHIE BARBER (violin) ROBERT MAX (cello) REBECCA HOLT (piano) Trio in D op 70 no 1 (Ghost) Beethoven Trio no 1 in G minor Rachmaninov Trio no 1 in B op 8 INTERVAL Brahms

2 Trio in D, op 70 No 1 (Ghost) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Allegro vivace con brio Largo assai ed espressivo Presto In the summer of 1808, Beethoven completed his Pastoral Symphony and immediately followed it with the two trios that make up his opus 70 and which were dedicated to Countess Maria Erdödy. Unusually for Beethoven, the D major trio is in only three movements, the outer ones being particularly fast, throwing a special emphasis on to the profound central movement, whose mysterious tremolando accompaniment has given the trio its nickname. The first movement bursts straight in with forceful octaves, and this passionate atmosphere persists for much of the movement, as do the scale-like passages of the opening. The development includes a fugal treatment of the themes that looks forward to the great movements in this form from - Beethoven's late piano sonatas and string quartets. The slow movement is in Beethoven's most characteristically serious vein slow and introspective, with fragments of melody based on the rhythmic pattern of the movement's opening. Towards the end, the music seems to be becoming more agitated, but the mood passes as quickly as it came. The theme of the finale has several false starts before it gets going. It is fascinating to observe the many different ways in which Beethoven treats his thematic material throughout - delicate pizzicatos, thundering octaves and motifs tossed from instrument to instrument. The characteristics of the great and wonderful works of Beethoven's late period are clearly in evidence in this trio.

3 Trio no 1 in G minor Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) 052 adel Rachmaninov's two piano trios, both subtitled 'elegiac', are very early works. Having graduated in piano from the Moscow Conservatory in 1891, Rachmaninov graduated the following year in composition, receiving the Great Gold medal, only the third student to do so. His compositions from this year included the opera Aleko, the famous C sharp minor Prelude, and this first trio. Unlike the second trio, (1893), subsequently revised and published as opus 9, the G minor trio wasn't published in the composer's lifetime. We shouldn't be surprised to detect the strong influence offely als Schumann and Tchaikovsky, but it is possible, too, to hear the authentic Rachmaninov voice already present. ed The trio is in a single sonata-form movement that opens almost imperceptibly. The piano presents the main theme, subsequently taken up by the cello and 36 then the violin, after which there is a great appassionato statement of the main theme. The piano begins the development section, which treats the material contrapuntally, culminating in a grand statement of the main theme. There then follows a standard recapitulation of the opening section of the movement. After the appassionato climax, the music dies away for a final hushed version of the theme, marked alla marcia funebre, in the style of a funeral march. - INTERVAL - d

Trio no 1 in B, opus 8 Allegro con brio Scherzo (Allegro molto) Allegro 4 Johannes Brahms (1833-97) Brahms was the most self-critical of composers, and the comparative lack of music from his teens and early twenties is due not so much to late development as to his having destroyed most of the music he wrote at this time. Other compositions, such as the third piano quartet and first piano concerto, went through long gestation periods, twenty years in the case of the quartet. Two of the early works escaped 'by accident', as it were; the violin and piano scherzo was kept by its dedicatee, while this trio Brahms allowed to be published before he had second thoughts about it. The trio was composed in 1853-4; when the composer returned to it in 1889, he not so much revised the trio, as recomposed it from his original ideas. This revised version, the only one usually played, still, however, retains sufficient of the character of the young composer to be entitled to retain its 'opus 8' classification. The first movement presents long, flowing melodic lines: the music's momentum is regularly accelerated by jogging triplets that help to work up great passion, a passion which at times threatens to burst the medium apart. The scherzo begins wonderfully on tiptoes, but becomes quite ferocious, with something of a tavern atmosphere. The central trio section is more lyrical but also builds up to a considerable climax. The atmosphere

5 of the adagio is hushed and restrained, a private world into which the listener is fortunate to intrude. The music of the finale is perhaps over-dominated by the insistent dotted-note figure of the opening. The main melodic interest is provided by the stirring second theme. Alec Macdonald 1990 on molded a to da nebo ban

6 TONIGHT'S ARTISTS Rebecca Holt Rebecca was a scholar at The Purcell School and The Guildhall, studying with Mary Peppin and Geoffrey Parsons. She now works as a freelance soloist, accompanist and chamber musician recording regularly for BBC television and radio. In 1984 she represented Great Britain and won the European Music for Youth Accompanists Prize. Since then she has twice been awarded the International Young Concert Artists Accompanying Prize and was a prize winner in the 1987 Royal Overseas League competition. She has toured extensively in Great Britain, Europe and America. She is also a member of the Young Songmakers Almanac. Rebecca is a founder member of The Barbican Piano Trio. Sophie Barber Sophie was a scholar at both Wells Cathedral School and Chethams School before continuing her studies at the RNCM with Malcolm Layfield and, more recently, as a BP scholar in The Guildhall with Georgy Pauk. In 1985 she was awarded the Sidney Perry Scholarship from the Martin Trust and an English Speaking Union scholarship to study at Yale University, USA. She has been a finalist in both the Overseas League and Young Concert Artist Trust competitions. Since 1983 Sophie has pursued a solo and chamber music career, as well as working as a freelance violinist with the Academy of St. Martins, Goldberg Ensemble and the City of London Sinfonia. She is a founder member of The Barbican Piano Trio.

7 Robert Max Robert was a music scholar at St. Paul's School and at the age of 15 won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Florence Hooton. He graduated with 1st Class Honours at 18. After winning the European Music for Youth Cello prize in 1984 he gave recitals and performed concertos in Germany, Austria and Belgium. He was awarded the Edward Boyle Memorial Scholarship to study in Banff, Canada, in 1986 and the prestigious Julian Isserlis Scholarship in 1987. Robert is now a post graduate student at the RNCM studying with Ralph Kirshbaum. He has been the cellist of The Barbican Piano Trio since 1987. NEXT RECITAL THE ENDELLION STRING QUARTET Saturday 24 March 1990 7.30 pm Elmwood Hall

The BMS has been presenting concerts of first-rate chamber music, including masterpieces which are landmarks in European culture, for almost 70 years. Some of the world-famous artists who have played and sung for us have included the Amadeus Quartet, Elly Ameling, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Janet Baker, Pierre Bernac and Francis Poulenc, Alfred Brendel, Kathleen Ferrier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, John Lill, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Gerard Souzay and Rosalyn Tureck. Copies of BMS brochures available from the Secretary, Janet Quigg, 48, Bawnmore Road, Belfast, BT9 6LB, tel. 660115. CITY HOSPITAL LISBURN ROAD TOWE DONEGALL PASS ELMWOOD HALL CAMDEN ST ELMWOOD AVENUE COLLEGE GARDENS METHODIST COLLEGE WELLESLEY AVENUE MOUNT CHARLES UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY SQUARE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY STRE EOTANIC GARDENS