I was recently asked to give a chamber music organisation in Virginia, USA permission to use our programme note on the Weinberg Piano Trio. It was encouraging to see our archive being noticed by a US concert presenter and good to see they are paying attention to Weinberg.
There will be no Weinberg in our programmes this year although his friend Shostakovich features with his set of seven mystical songs taken from the poems of the pre-Revolution poet, Alexander Blok. The songs were commissioned by the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya for the two of them to perform together. However Shostakovich decided he needed the full piano trio but he asked them to join the singer in all the possible solo, duo and trio combinations, thus the seven songs. It is one of those magical late-night works that both singers and instrumentalists beg for the opportunity to perform.
The Late Beethoven quartets are also works that are best heard on their own late night, ideally by candle-light. They were all first performed in the back-rooms of smoky taverns and in the case of the great B flat quartet he went to another inn as he feared the incomprehension that would greet his Fugue of fugues, his one movement response to Bach’s Art of Fugue. So if you attend the Tchalik Quartet’s performance on the late night of 28 th June, the next day you can hear Ardeo Quartet’s interpretation of Bach’s unfinished masterpiece.
This is the beauty of festivals, to present the opportunity to hear great works in counterpoint with each other. It is also the chance to participate in a gathering of quartets, quintets, sextets and soloists whom you will never meet again in the same combinations. Choosing can be challenging but you can be confident that whatever you settle on you will want to go to more. Would you believe it this is our 30 th Festival, our archive records over 3,180 separate works being performed and still counting?
We are so grateful for your support that makes all this music-making possible and look forward to seeing you in Bantry. Francis Humphrys Festival Director | 
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