Classical Music this weekend
Mozart and Chausson at Christ Church St Leonards
Max Baillie’s St Leonards Concerts series hosts this weekend The Kleio Quartet, rising stars in the music world here and abroad. Since their formation in 2019, they have amassed a huge range of prizes, awards, and prestigious residencies, and have played dates in major concert halls around the UK and Europe.
Along with Baillie himself and pianist Yunyan Chen, they will play Mozart’s C Major quintet, and in the second half a gorgeous, lush piece by Ernest Chausson, Concerto 21 for violin, piano, and string quartet. Uniquely, Baillie invariably introduces his concerts with a history concerning the gestation of the music and/or anecdotes about the composer, so besides world-class music, there’s an education factor as well.
String quartet evenings at Christ Church in the summer are unforgettable events – sit with your glass of wine and let the music float above you.
Hastings International Piano Picnic at Fairlight Hall
If you didn’t already know, the wonderful Roman Fediurko will play Scriabin’s second sonata. Scriabin, born into Russian nobility, dead at 43, produced works of musical genius that were both celebrated and reviled during his lifetime. This early sonata is undeniably gorgeous, and doesn’t present to the listener the harmonic innovations present in Scriabin’s later, more difficult, and more dissonant works. His synesthesia allowed him to colour-code his harmonies, inspired by the then-popular occult ‘system’ of theosophy. Also on the programme is Chopin’s 3rd Sonata, the last Chopin wrote, the most complex and also the most archetypal.
This isn’t an everyday performance: these are virtuoso pieces,and the ability to play them is given to only a very few artists. Ukrainian Fediurko, runner-up in the Hastings International Piano competition is, at only 21, fast gaining an international reputation with his scintillating, technically perfect, and emotionally charged prizewinning performances. Take a picnic on Sunday and sit in the glorious garden at Fairlight Hall, and enjoy the privilege of hearing greatness, of both composition and exposition.
Kleio Quartet tickets: ticketsource.com/stlc/t-jxxenra, Fediurko and
picnic tickets: eventbrite.co.uk/e/summer-picnic-concert-tickets-1987312793061
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply