Marsyas Trio: Helen Vidovich (flute), Valerie Welbanks (cello), Olga Stezhko (piano), with Christopher Jones (violin)
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel - Trio in D Minor (arr. by Mark Gotham for flute, cello & piano) Claude Debussy - Pagodes Johann Sebastian Bach - Adagio from Toccata in E minor BWV914 Alexander Scriabin - Vers la flamme Interval Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Adagio, Variations and Rondo on Schöne Minka Theme, op 78 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no 20 in D minor, K466 (arr. by Hummel for keyboard, flute, violin & cello)
In the short space of less than 100 years between 1770 and 1860, the piano underwent an astonishing evolution. Utilizing the cutting-edge technologies and manufacturing methods that became available thanks to the Industrial Revolution, Cristofori’s original 4-octave “gravicembalo col piano e forte” (harpsichord with soft and loud) quickly developed into the magnificent concert grand we know today – the instrument without which the history of Western classical music would be a different affair. In this concert, the Marsyas Trio (the FUAM Ensemble in Residence at the University of Leeds) celebrates the versatility of piano as a solo and chamber instrument and showcases its limitless expressive palette. The programme illuminates the piano’s crucial role as composers’ trusted companion in creating and disseminating larger orchestral works. By 1844 there were more than 9,000 arrangements of works in circulation including symphonies, concerti and operas. Known by Beethoven as ‘translations’, these orchestral works were often released simultaneously in several chamber ensemble versions, arranged by eminent composers of the day in consultation with the composers. Hummel and Clementi, both virtuoso pianists themselves, arranged most of Beethoven’s symphonies and many of Haydn and Mozart’s symphonies and concerti, one of which – Mozart’s dramatic and sublimely beautiful Piano Concerto in D minor K446 – takes centre stage in this programme.
