BIOGR A PH Y

The Phacelia Ensemble comprises of five strings and piano formed by Artistic Director Elisabeth Streichert to give
voice to the idea of ‘Concertos in Miniature’. The aim of Phacelia Ensemble is to perform piano concertos transcribed
Sunday 22 March 2020 • 6.30pm
by Elisabeth Streichert for alternative/smaller venues to present the audience with a more intimate sound experience.

PHACELIA ENSEMBLE
The programme is always paired with large-scale chamber music works, for instance Piano Quintets, Piano Quartets
or String Quartets to show the relationship between these two genres. Based in London, the players are members
of various chamber music groups. They are passionate about performing new repertoire as well as the ‘classics’.
The Phacelia Ensemble is the perfect mix of tradition and experimentation, which is reflected in their performances.
Recently, they have successfully been touring in Germany as well as have performed at the Bloomsbury Festival
in London. Other highlights include, being featured by Classic FM and a radio broadcast and recording by the
German radio station Deustchlanfunk Kultur.

Piano • Elisabeth Streichert

DINE A F T E R T HE CONCE R T NE X T AT CON WAY H A L L
Violin • Antonia Kesel
We are pleased to announce that the following SUNDAY 29 MARCH • 6.30pm
restaurants will offer an exclusive 20% discount to Ruisi Quartet Violin • Edward Bale
Conway Hall concert-goers on the production of Britten | Three Divertimenti
tonight’s programme: Mendelssohn | Quartet in A minor Op.13 Viola • Mark Gibbs
Café Rouge • 77 Kingsway Webern | Langsamer Satz
Pizza Express • 99 High Holborn Beethoven | Quartet in F Op.135 Cello • Cecilia Bignall
All restaurants are situated a few yards south of Holborn Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated about
our future concerts and news.
Double bass • Mark Lipski
Underground Station. To obtain your 20% discount you must
produce the programme for that night’s concert - the offer
is restricted to the night of the Concert and applies to food
purchases only (it does not extend to alcohol or soft drinks). The
offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers.

Patrons: Stephen Hough • Prunella Scales CBE • Hiro Takenouchi • Petroc Trelawny • Timothy West CBE
Conway Hall Sunday Concerts are an integral part of the charitable activities of Conway Hall
Conway Hall is owned and operated by Conway Hall Ethical Society • registered charity no. 1156033)
We are hugely grateful to the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust for subsidising free tickets for 8-25 year-olds

conwayhall.org.uk/sundayconcerts conwayhallsundayconcerts chsunconcerts Please turn off all mobile phones and electronic devices • No recording or photography allowed at any time
 PR OGR A MME PR OGR A MME NO T E S

Stravinsky’s two great Russian ballets Petrushka and The Rite of Spring had been premiered by
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1911 and 1913, but the First World War restricted Diaghilev’s ability
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) to mount new works and Stravinsky, who spent the war in Switzerland, was free to experiment with
THREE PIECES FOR STRING QUARTET (1914, REV. 1918) [7'] new directions as he moved closer to his neo-Classical period, using a small orchestra and classical
overtones. The style that he also explored in the Three Pieces for String Quartet.

The work was originally written in 1914 and then revised in 1918, but it has a somewhat complex
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) arr. Elisabeth Streichert history. Like much of Stravinsky’s music, it started off in short score, for piano four-hands and only then
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 20 D MINOR K466 (1785) [30’] being transferred to four string players. The three movements did not have titles, but in the 1920s
he took the three movements, along with his Etude pour pianola and arranged them as Quatre
I. Allegro etudes for large orchestra, and in the process gave the movements titles so that the three movements
originally for string quartet became, ‘Danse’, ‘Eccentrique’, and ‘Cantique’.
II. Romanze

III. Rondo: Allegro Assai This is music which simply happens to be written for four stringed instruments, Stravinsky does not
seem to be interested in the complex history of the string quartet as a genre. The result is somewhat
enigmatic. In the first each instrument pursues its own course, independent of the others, the second
is highly idiosyncratic and was evidently inspired by the music hall artist Little Tich (who was much
admired by Diaghilev), whilst the third the three instruments blend together in a unified sound.

INTERVAL Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 dates from 1785 when it was premiered in Vienna with the composer
at the keyboard. Leopold’s father, who was present, described the premiere to his daughter in a
Refreshments will be available in The Hive letter, "an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when
(Please do not bring glasses into the Main Hall) we got here, and your brother didn't even have time to play through the rondo because he had to
oversee the copying operation." The work was much admired by Beethoven.

The first movement opens rather dark and restless, with the second theme being slightly more up-
beat, the tension develops in the coda yet the movement ends on a quiet note. The slow movement
is a rondo, with a charming main theme which is interrupted by stormy episodes. The last movement
Johannes Brahms (1833-97) is also a rondo, full of contrasts between dark, restlessness and more cheerful material. Tonight we
are hearing the work in an arrangement for piano and strings by the ensemble’s pianist, Elizabeth
PIANO QUARTET IN F MINOR OP. 34 (1864) [40’] Streichert.
I. Allegro non troppo
Brahms’ Piano Quintet was written in 1864, but had gone through a somewhat complex history
II. Andante, un poco adagio to reach this point. Originally scored for string quintet (with two cellos), it was then transcribed for
two pianos in which form Brahms performed it, and only then did he re-write it for piano quintet, a
III. Scherzo: allegro
form which had been popularised by Schumann’s Piano Quintet of 1842. This uncertainty of form is
IV. Finale: Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo – Presto, non troppo something that happened to Brahms more than once, his Piano Concerto in D minor started out as
a sonata for two pianos, as did the orchestral Handel Variations.

The piece opens dramatically, in the dark key of F minor and first movement is highly charged. The
work also seems to have hints of homage to Schubert. In the slow movement the theme unfolds in
thirds in the middle of the texture (and remember the work started as a quintet with two cellos), whilst
the ending of the Scherzo also recalls Schubert. The atmosphere of the Scherzo is one of subdued
drama, whilst the finale starts with a sombre introduction which leads to a more uncomplicated
Allegro, ending in headlong fashion.
© Robert Hugill 2020

Tonight’s performance will finish at approximately 8:30pm.