Sonatas, Friendships and a search for Bach: My pre-concert talks at Conway Hall

Robert Hugill (Photo Robert Piwko)

I will be back at Conway Hall on Sunday 19 January 2020 for the first of four pre-concert talks as part of the hall's Spring 2020 Sunday Concerts Series. The first talk, Breaking new ground looks at the development of Beethoven's violin sonatas from the early works based on 18th century models to the large-scale grandeur of the Kreutzer sonata, with performances of three of the sonatas including the Kreutzer to follow (further details). 

On 23 February, it is the turn of the cello sonata as I look at its development, tracking the gradual liberation of the cello from the keyboard towards the full-scale drama of the 19th & 20th centuries, in advance of performances of cello sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms and Shostakovich (further details).

A Tale of Two Friendships on 5 April, looks at the fascinating and complex web of friendship between the young Brahms and Robert and Clara Schumann, and also at the important, creative friendship between Shostakovich and Weinberg in post-war Soviet Russia, in advance of performances of works for piano trio by Brahms, Robert Schumann, Shostakovich and Weinberg (further details).

Finally, on 10 May we go In search of Bach as I talk about Bach's cello suites, iconic works for which we have no autograph score, little background and don't know for whom they were written, and some commentators even discuss the type of instrument for which they were written, in advance of performances of  all six suites (further details).

Full details from the schedule on my website, and concert tickets from the Conway Hall website.