This concert is another in our series ‘Stars of the Future’, in which we showcase younger musicians who are at the beginning of what will surely be considerable careers as performing artists. Ruiqi, Zhijing and Reynold are all outstanding students from London’s Royal College of Music and have already gained considerable experience playing as a trio. Friendships formed at university often prove to last a lifetime and there is no doubting the unusual connection between these three virtuosic young performers.
The lutenist Toby Carr is already being recognised as a remarkable talent and his first CD is currently available, a collaboration with Helen Charlston, the mezzo-soprano who gave such a wonderful performance of Schumann’s Dichterliebe for us last November. He has devised a new programme called Softest Thunder, which we will present in the candlelit Wenlock Chapel of St Mary’s, demanding as it does an intense and intimate atmosphere. We hope also to include a new version of a work of my own called The Sound of Rhubarb Growing, an essay in gentle, perfect, tiny sounds… This promises to be a remarkable evening.
Richard Sisson (Chair of Luton Music)
PROGRAMME
The first half of the programme will include music for clarinet, cello & piano:
Johannes Brahms – Clarinet Trio Op 114
Vincenzo Bellini / Luigi Bassi – Fantasia on Themes from I puritani
Robert Muczynski – Fantasy Trio for Clarinet, Cello & Piano Op 26
The second half will include solo lute music by Dowland, Johnson, Ballard, Poulenc, Satie and Laura Snowden.
Here is what lutenist Toby Carr has written about his chosen repertoire:
‘An Englishman has acquired a beautiful old large Bologna lute for me from France (…) the best I have ever played. In its belly is housed the softest thunder one can hear. I cannot describe it better.’ – Constantijn Huygens, 1648
Softest Thunder is a new solo lute programme uniting repertoire from the 17th century with a new commission by Laura Snowden and lute transcriptions of masterpieces of French early modernism. This seemingly disparate repertoire is carefully curated to reveal aesthetic similarities and create a luxurious listening experience.
Bringing together music spanning hundreds of years, united by a common sense of soft-edged, delicate but resonant beauty, this programme offers a unique audience experience.
ARTISTS
Reynold Yang (clarinet)
Zhijing Wu (cello)
Ruiqi Fang (piano)
Toby Carr (lute)
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