Maria Grenfell – Knitting Unicorns – Adam Festival Orchestra including students from the Adam Summer School)
Pierre-Max Dubois – Sonatine-Tango for bassoon and piano – Todd Gibson-Cornish (bassoon), Jeremy Denk (piano)
Johannes Brahms – Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 – Natalia Lomeiko (violin), Gillian Ansell (viola), Martin Smith (cello), Jeremy Denk (piano)
Franz Schubert – Octet in F major, D. 803 – Natalia Lomeiko (violin), Arna Morton (violin), Gillian Ansell (viola), Martin Smith (cello), Phoebe Russell (double bass), James Campbell (clarinet), Shadley van Wyck (horn), Todd Gibson-Cornish (bassoon)
It’s our final evening and we are determined to go out with a flourish. We open the concert with New Zealand composer Maria Grenfell’s 2017 work celebrating the mythical magic of unicorns in children’s lives, followed by French Pierre-Max Dubois’ playful Sonatine-Tango, full of rhythmic flair and Parisian charm, featuring the bassoon in a rare starring role.
The first half concludes with Brahms’s towering Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, the work with which he made his Viennese debut as composer and performer on the piano. It became an instant success due to Brahms’ extraordinary mastery of thematic development and the high-octane Gypsy Rondo finale. We close the festival with the final of our four Schubert masterpieces, Octet, his epic answer to the Beethoven septet. Despite being written at a time of great suffering in the composer’s life, its six movements make up a serenade of amazing variety, with joviality juxtaposed against seriousness, jaunty dances beside heartrending moments, and hunting themes beside Viennese cafe music. Showing the human condition in such a dramatic light, this octet is the perfect way to conclude the 18th Adam Chamber Music Festival.
