Summer Festival Ensemble

Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat Major, Op.18.

Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor Op. 34

Charles Stewart – Violin

Gillian Secret - Violin

Robert Secret - Viola

Julian Metzger - Cello

Debbie Shah - Piano

A chance to hear the wonderfully romantic Violin Sonata by Richard Strauss. This was the last chamber piece Strauss was to write, he was 23 years old and had met the soprano Pauline de Ahna who he was to marry, and it is perhaps not fanciful to hear in this sonata the romantic ardour of their relationship.

In a letter to Brahms Joseph Joachim writes that the F minor quintet is a “masterpiece of chamber music, the likes of which we have not seen since the year 1828.” That was the year of Schubert’s death.

This concert is sponsored by Howard and Jane Mordue.