Guest violinist Magnus Johnston, newly-appointed leader of the Royal Opera House, joins Hallé players for two of the greatest string sextets. The sextet which opens Richard Strauss’s last opera, Capriccio, becomes the subject of the drama – which is greater, poetry or music? This warm, flowing music definitely makes a good case for the supremacy of the latter. The warmth continues in Brahms’s G major sextet, described by musicologist Donald Tovey as ‘one of his most ethereal works’. The silver-toned first movement is followed by a Scherzo, sometimes melancholy, sometimes playful. The third movement moves from drama to a radiant conclusion before the last movement scurries joyfully to an exciting close.

Chamber Series: Magnus Johnston Directs

Hallé St Peter's

Elgar’s Piano Quintet was composed while the Elgars were staying at Brinkwells Cottage in Sussex. This inspirational setting sparked the composer’s imagination: as the summer of 1918 turned to autumn Elgar began composing the Quintet, a work of lyrical beauty that’s infused with the melancholy of the turning of the seasons.

Martin Schäfer

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Oct 7, 2023

Chamber Series: Magnus Johnston Directs · The Hallé

May 12, 2023

Chamber Series: Elgar’s Piano Quintet · The Hallé

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