West Cork Chamber Music Festival

 

Tuesday 1 July

11am Coffee Concert St Brendan's Church Reinoud Van Mechelen, a nocte temporis Clérambault's Cantatas Apollon, La Jaloux, Pyrame et Thisbé Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre's Trio Sonata No.1 in G minor

French cantatas from the 18th century are -unlike their German counterparts from the same period- profane works that one could consider musical short stories. Composed for one or more voices accompanied by a basso continuo, we can consider them real chamber operas. This program brings cantatas for one voice written by a comparatively unknown French composer who however was a master in this genre during the Age of Enlightenment : Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, alongside one trio sonata by the genius female composer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, known for having played for king Louis XIV at the age of five. In this concert high tenor, Reinoud Van Mechelen, is accompanied by flute, violin, gamba and harpsichord singing three secular cantatas written for Madame Maintenon, the mistress of Louis XIV, the Sun King.  Book Now

12.10pm Crespo Midday Series Christian Fellowship Church  Ella van Poucke J.S. Bach's Cello Suite No.3 in C major & Cello Suite No.5 in C minor

In this series of midday recitals we present young soloists in programmes of their choice in a small and intimate venue with no stage and no possibility of a piano. Ella van Poucke is a regular performer both in Bantry and the Ortús Festival in Cork. She studied at the famous Kronberg Academy for top string players. Playing the Bach Suites is a rite of passage for every young cellist. The Third Suite positively rejoices in the extrovert and confident key of C major; openness, riches, magnanimity are on offer here, presented in a generous and open-hearted embrace. The C minor Suite is more serious, befitting the minor key and the lower tuning.  Book Now

2pm Young Musician Series St Brendan's Hall Olympia Quartet Fanny Mendelssohn's String Quartet in E flat Daniel Anthony Vives-Lynch's String Quartet No. 2 in D Dorian - Tine na hÉireann (Irish Fire) Philip Glass' Quartet Satz Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in C minor

Olympia Quartet is the second of the four student Quartets taking part in the Festival Masterclasses. The Quartet is led by the prize-winning young Ukrainian violinist, Yevlaliia Yershova, with Ellen Crowley, Charlie Duff and Adam Joyce. They are studying in Cork and have also chosen one the Kronos ‘Fifty for the Future’ quartets, a short ‘Quartet movement’ by Philip Glass. They will also premiere a brand new work by one of the winners of the Festival’s Composition Competition for young Irish composers plus works by Mendelssohn's sister, Fanny Henschel, and Shostakovich's famously autobiographical Eight Quartet. Daniel Anthony Vives-Lynch is one of the winners of this year's Composition Competition. His work was described by Deirdre Gribbin as having 'energy and drive.'  Book Now

4pm Crespo Series Bantry House Clara Izambert, Brett Dean, Anna Besson and Lucy Fitz Gibbon Debussy's Sonata for flute, viola and harp Early Kim's now and then Bax's Elegiac Trio Britten's Lachrymae

Earl Kim was a noted American composer of dazzling and austere works with a special link to the music theatre of Beckett, whose words are set in this short song cycle along with a Yeats excerpt and Nina’s monologue from Chekov’s Seagull. Britten’s Lachrymae is a set of variations on a sad love-song If my complaints could passions move, composed for Britten’s own instrument the viola. Here the harp replaces the piano. Bax’s Elegiac Trio for flute, viola and harp was composed in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. Strangely it was composed at the same time as Debussy's Trio for the same unusual combination of instruments that follows, though neither composer knew of the other's work Debussy created a magical new world with the same instruments, composed at the height of the 1st World War, Debussy invents a delicate and sensuous world far, far removed from the slaughter in the trenches. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Agnès Clément will not be performing in this concert. The Festival is delighted to welcome the brilliant harpist Clara Izambert instead.

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7.30pm Main Evening Concert St Brendan's Church  Lucy Fitz Gibbon and Marmen Quartet Deirdre Gribbin's when you think you are looking WORLD PREMIERE Brett Dean and Ardeo Quartet Mendelssohn's String Quintet No. 2 in B flat Chiaroscuro Quartet Beethoven's Quartet in E flat

The American soprano, Lucy Fitz Gibbon will join Marmen Quartet for the World Premiere of Deirdre Gribbin’s song cycle to texts by Irish poet Jessica Traynor, a powerful new work commissioned by the Festival. Mendelssohn’s Second String Quintet could almost be described as a mature version of the famous Octet he wrote when he was only sixteen using a similar concertante style with the first violin soaring above an almost orchestral accompaniment. After the interval, Chiaroscuro Quartet play the first of the late Beethoven quartets, composed exactly 200 years ago. In many ways it is the most approachable of the set with the conventional four movements, whose opening is haunted by a thunderous motto theme giving way eventually to a wonderful singing Adagio, where time stands still.  Book Now

10pm Candlelit Late Night Bantry House  Paddington Trio Schumann's Piano Trio in D minor

Schumann’s popular D minor Trio was written in response to the G minor Trio composed by his wife Clara. The two Trios were premiered together in one the many Schumann Hausmusik concerts with Clara on piano; she was with Liszt Europe’s preeminent pianist so those concerts must have been quite some occasions. Schumann’s Trio is highly dramatic reflecting his obsession with opera at that time. The outer movements almost burst apart with the energy he produces and, in between, he creates a deeply felt but tender slow movement.  Book Now

Wednesday 2 July  11am Coffee Concert St Brendan's Church Rachel Podger and Marcin Swiatkiewicz J.S Bach's Sonata in B minor for violin and harpsichord; Sonata in G minor for solo violin; Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor; and Sonata in E major for violin and harpsichord

J.S.Bach’s son CPE.Bach was full of praise for the six sonatas for violin and harpsichord, calling them ‘amongst the finest works of my dearly beloved father. They still sound excellent and give me great pleasure although they are over 50 years old. There are several Adagios in them which even nowadays could not be set in a more singing style.’ Today's composers might read this comment with wry amusement, a music-loving society that was only interested in new works, a time when old music was no longer interesting, not up-to-date. Now Bach, much of whose music is 300 years old, has become the measure that few composers can live up to, Here is music where every note is in exactly its rightful place, the absolute clarity of his music, especially in the hands of these two masters, is both invigorating and calming – a perfect start to this day.  Book Now

12.10pm Crespo Midday Series Christian Fellowship Church Chiaroscuro Quartet Haydn's Quartet in G minor and Quartet in D

The six so-called ‘Sun’ quartets of Haydn’s Op.20 gave birth to the string quartet as the chamber music form par excellence and towards which all composers would later aspire. Haydn sets down a quality marker for the future for this new genre. Chiaroscuro Quartet is renowned as a trailblazer for authentic performance of the classical string quartet using gut strings and period tuning. Despite their iconic status the ‘Sun’ quartets are famed for their flexibility, variety, unpredictability and sense of experimentation. This concert gives you the opportunity to hear close up this world-changing music played by four outstanding musicians.

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2pm Young Musicians Series St Brendan's Hall  Magnolia Quartet Haydn's Quartet in D major Aoife Kavanagh's Every Cloud Passes Over Smetana's Quartet No.1 'From My Life'

Magnolia Quartet is the third of the student Quartets taking part in the Festival masterclasses. Haydn’s Op.76 is the last complete set that he wrote, a set that stands at the apex of his collection of almost 70 quartets. Unlike his earlier intimate sets, Op.76 was composed for a concert hall rather than a private house or palace. Smetana’s autobiographical ‘From My Life’ was the outcry of a desperate composer, whose life was disintegrating due to deafness and approaching madness and who blames Fate for his suffering. The quartet will also premiere 'Every Cloud Passes Over' by Aoife Kavanagh, one of this year's Composition Competition winners, described by Deirdre Gribbin as 'a work of great beauty.'  Book Now

4pm Crespo Series St Brendan's Church  Marmen Quartet Debussy's String Quartet Ravel's String Quartet

The very first Bantry chamber music festival in 1996 was part of the bi-centenary celebrations of the attempted French invasion of Ireland in Christmas week 1796. So music by French composers became one of our musical themes that year. This year also sees the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ravel. So a double excuse for an all-French programme of the ground-breaking quartets by Debussy and Ravel. These quartets often appear together on recordings but seldom in concert programmes. Debussy and Ravel both developed a distinct musical language totally separate from the Viennese tradition, it is a more delicate voice, at times almost otherworldly with a promise of magic.  Book Now

7.30pm Main Evening Concert Bantry House Lucy Fitz Gibbon and Doric Quartet Dean's And Once I Played Ophelia IRISH PREMIERE Mairéad Hickey, Brett Dean, Ella van Poucke and Nathalia Milstein Fauré's Piano Quartet No.1 in C minor Barry Douglas and Marmen Quartet Brahms' Piano Quintet in F minor

Brett Dean spent three years writing his opera ‘Hamlet’, which went on to triumphant performances in UK, Australia, Germany and USA. ‘And once I played Ophelia’ began as a preliminary study for the opera before it became his Second String Quartet with a text compiled by Matthew Jocelyn from the original play. It could also be called ‘A nightmare in five movements’, the clash of power and innocence with no prisoners being taken. Fauré’s ravishing C minor Piano Quartet is one of his many masterpieces. Its powerful sense of sweeping élan, the Parisian elegance of the scherzo and the darkness buried deep in the adagio bear all the assurance and craftsmanship of a master. Brahms Piano Quintet is another overwhelming masterpiece. It began life as a string quintet, but not satisfied with that he recast it for two pianos, which his friends rejected outright. Finally it took the form we all know and love, a power-crazed opening Allegro, a rapturously singing Andante, an excitingly explosive Scherzo and a strangely mysterious Finale that builds to an impetuous conclusion.

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