Summer Music at Paxton House, Berwick-upon-Tweed
Thursday 26th June until Sunday 29th June
Full details at www.fenyo-musicmakers.co.uk/summermusic
Or call 01289 386291
'Summer Music' returns to Paxton House in 2008 with a tightly-packed programme of 7 concerts celebrating Russian musical genius. Music on offer includes Tchaikovsky’s great piano trio, ballet transcriptions by Stravinsky, impressionistic violin/piano music by Prokofiev, and Shostakovich’s extraordinary piano cycle, 24 Preludes & Fugues, to be performed complete across two consecutive evenings. Artists include Susanne Stanzeleit, Gusztav Fenyo, Andrew Fuller, Kesh Piano Duo, Robert Irvine, Graeme McNaught, Ani Batikian, Scottish Connection. £6-£15
26th – 27th June
Gusztav Fenyo: 8pm
Our "Russian Genius" weekend opens with one of the 20th century's most important piano cycles. Written in 1950-1 as a personal response to Stalin's repressive regime, Shostakovich's 24 Preludes & Fugues are modelled on J S Bach's 'Well-Tempered Clavier'. They are played by Summer Music's Artistic Director, who has been highly praised for his cycles of Beethoven and Chopin. Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear this extraordinary work, with its vast landscape of emotions and colours, in its first complete Borders' performance; the cycle will be divided equally between two evenings. £12(£6); £20 complete cycle
Saturday 28 June
Kesh Piano Duo: 4.30pm
A spectacular programme featuring Stravinsky's two greatest ballets in his own transcriptions for four hands - the colourful 'Petrouchka' and the 20th century's seminal masterpiece, 'The Rite of Spring' - preceded by richly melodious Mozart and Ravel. Performed by one of the most exciting young piano duos, Esther Sofaer and Heejung Kim. 'Explosive piano playing...' The Independent £12 (£6)
Robert Irvine ('cello), Graeme McNaught (piano): 7.30pm
Three superb 'cello sonatas by masters of classical form, including Britten's epigrammatic, only work for the genre and Shostakovich's at once biting and lyrical sonata, his earliest chamber work of note; Beethoven's middle-period masterpiece and the well-known song-without-words by Rachmaninov complete this dynamic programme. This popular Scottish duo has recently recorded Shostakovich and Rachmaninov on the Delphian label. £15 (£6)
Ani Batikian (violin), Gusztav Fenyo (piano): 9.45pm
Dedicated to the 'enfant terrible' of Russian music, this short atmospheric concert combines Prokofiev's impressionistic early piano cycle 'Visions fugitives' with his first violin sonata, a stark moving piece which reveals the composer's innate lyricism. A first appearance at Paxton by this gifted, young Armenian violinist. £6
Sunday 29 June
Susanne Stanzeleit (violin, Andrew Fuller (cello), Gusztav Fenyo (piano): 4.30pm
This trio of artists, well-known to Paxton audiences, returns with a widely contrasting programme: a light Haydn trio from the early days of this home-grown genre, a delightful set of short pieces by Frank Bridge (often known only as Britten's mentor) and Tchaikovsky's passionate work written in memory of pianist Nicholas Rubinstein. £12 (£6)
Scottish Connection: 8pm
Our "Russian Genius" weekend ends in grand fashion with a group of young Scottish professionals playing some of the great works of the string repertoire: an exhilarating Divertimento by Mozart, Elgar's melodious Serenade for Strings and Stravinsky's pungent Concerto in D for String Orchestra in the first half; in the second, three numbers from Grieg's ever-popular 'Holberg Suite' and, finally, Benjamin Britten's 'Simple Symphony', his original, early masterpiece. £15 (£6)
