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Archived event

Performance details

Sunday 18 August 2024 at 11am
Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre

View digital program

Featuring

Gabrielle Halloran curator / viola
Kathryn Taylor
violin
Miranda Brockman
cello
Michael Pisani
oboe
Brock Imison
bassoon
Kenji Fujimura
keyboard

Program

Britten Phantasy for Oboe and String Trio
Poulenc Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano
Brahms Piano Quartet No.3 Werther

About this performance

MSO violist Gabrielle Halloran curates this exquisite program of chamber works – two written by composers early in their careers, contrasted with a mature work from Brahms written over a 20-year period.

  • Britten composed his Phantasy Quartet at just 18 years old, while studying at the Royal College of Music. Written in a symmetrical structure like an arch, this work begins in silence and eventually returns to it.
  • Poulenc's Trio – also composed as a young man – was completed in a hotel in Cannes. There he bumped into none other than Igor Stravinsky, who gave him some guidance. The Neo-classical style of this exquisite music reflects Stravinsky's influence, alongside touches of Mozart.
  • In contrast, Brahms' Piano Quartet No.3 is a more serious affair, befitting the middle-aged composer experiencing anguish in his personal life. Lyrical, passionate and defiant, the "Werther" Quartet references Goethe’s story about a young man in a state of unrequited love.

Duration: approx. 1 hour and 20 minutes including interval

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