A specially curated programme, by the performers and Classeek Ambassador Eric Tanguy, this recital programme features the music of Eric Tanguy, bookending a trio of works from the first half of the 20th century. Having studied under the likes of Horatiu Radulescu, Gérard Grisey and Betsy Jonas, Tanguy has become one of France’s most widely performed composers. Violinist and Classeek Ambassador Programme alumnus Alexandra Conunova is a featured artist in this recital, along with pianists David Kadouch and Suzana Bartal.

The recital opens with Tanguy’s Passacaille for solo piano, before Alexandra Conunova leads a performance of In a Dream, a piece she recorded for an acclaimed album of Tanguy chamber works earlier this year. The recording was awarded a four-star review by BBC Music Magazine, who praised Conunova’s rendition, stating that it was ‘performed with strength and conviction.’ Now better known in its orchestral arrangement, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances is heard here in its original version: a suite of short piano pieces based on Romanian folk tunes. The dances include ‘Stick Dance’ – a piece inspired by a tune Bartók overheard two gypsy violinists playing, ‘Sash Dance’ and ‘Romanian Polka’, showing the richness and variation of traditional Romanian gypsy music and dance. 

We then cycle forwards a few decades to 1940s Paris with Poulenc’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. Written in memory of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, the sonata is peppered with Spanish influences throughout and, as a result, is not instantly recognisable as Poulenc’s style. Premiered with the composer himself at the piano, this was never a piece Poulenc looked too favourably upon. In fact, he had difficulty writing the piece at all, with various attempts made. It is an intense and deeply moving work, with moments of grief, anger and bittersweet sentiment. 

Staying with the French theme, the musicians present Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye in its original piano duet form. Another work now better known in its orchestral arrangement, Ma mère l’Oye was originally written by Ravel for the Godebski children, whose parents had been the dedicatees of an earlier work by the great composer. With the subtitle ‘Five Children’s Pieces’, the work is made up of a series of movements which take their names from children’s stories, such as Sleeping Beauty and Tom Thumb. 

The evening is then brought to a close with another contemporary work by Eric Tanguy, Deux Moments Musicaux.

Programme notes by Freya Parr