Con Brio concert features exceptional works by Beethoven and Brahms

THE Vanbrugh (violinist Keith Pascoe, violist Simon Aspell and cellist Christopher Marwood) has evolved from the work of the legendary Vanbrugh Quartet. Over three decades the quartet gave close to three thousand concerts, presenting the chamber music repertoire to audiences throughout Ireland, Europe, the Americas and the Far East and were RTE’s Resident Quartet from 1986 to 2013. Their commercial recordings include more than 30 CDs of repertoire, ranging from the complete Beethoven quartets to many contemporary Irish works. In 2016 the group was presented with the National Concert Hall’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their contribution to music in Ireland. Since the retirement of violinist Gregory Ellis in 2017 the three remaining members have continued to perform as The Vanbrugh.

For Con Brio’s next concert in their Sligo Music Series, which takes place this Sunday, February 11th, The Vanbrugh combine with violinist Marja Gaynor, violist Ed Creedon and cellist Maria O’Connor to perform a very attractive programme of works by Beethoven and Brahms.

Originally from Finland, Marja Gaynor is a Cork-based violinist and viola player. She specialises in Baroque music and plays with various Irish and European ensembles, including the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Camerata Kilkenny, but is also known as a versatile musician at home in many different styles, a fluent improviser, as well as arranger and curator.

Cork born Ed Creedon was for many years was a student of Constantin Zanidache at the Cork School of Music. Since 2012 he has studied with

The Vanbrugh’s Simon Aspell. Ed has toured throughout Europe and the Far East with the European Union Youth Orchestra and the World Youth Chamber Orchestra under conductors such as Vasily Petrenko and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He took part in the RTE National Symphony Orchestra's Mentoring Scheme in 2013.

Maria O’Connor holds an MA from the Cork School of Music (CSM) and has been a prize winner in numerous competitions including Feis Ceoil, Feis Maitiu and the CSM Concerto and Chamber Music Competition. Maria played with the National Symphony Orchestra as part of their mentoring scheme. Along with fellow members of the Chiral Quartet she was awarded the 2014 CSM Directors Prize.

The quartet have been winners of the CSM RTE Vanbrugh Quartet Chamber Music Competition, the Music in Drumcliffe Strings Attached

Competition and have studied with both the Vogler Quartet and the Vanbrugh Quartet.

The concert opens with Beethoven’s String Quintet in E flat major, Op. 4. The quintet was originally an octet written for pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns in 1793. Beethoven transformed the Octet into the Quintet in 1795, during a time in which he was studying with Joseph Haydn, a master of string chamber music and the so-called Father of the String Quartet. While the Octet was written in response to the great demand that existed in Vienna at the time for light-hearted wind band music the arrangement for string quintet offers an attractive and elegant lightness of touch. The mood is much more purposeful, the dialogue between the strings containing music of deep substance and featuring impressive development of Beethoven’s themes.

The second piece on the programme is Brahms’ extraordinarily beautiful work, his String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36. Early in his career the composer was daunted by the great expectations that were thrust on him when he was regarded as the true heir of Beethoven.

As a consequence, he approached with particular diffidence the forms in which Beethoven wrote his greatest works. For example, he didn’t start work on his first symphony until age 29 or 30, and didn’t finish it for 14 years. In chamber music, he started with works centred on the piano, and when he moved to string only composition, he opted for the sextet, a rarely used form, instead of inviting comparisons with Beethoven by writing a string quartet.

The sextet is characterized by the exotic-sounding opening of its first movement, by innovative chord structures, and by its many contrasts, both technical and melodic. The piece as a whole is romantic and highly expressive, yet over all there hovers an air of restraint and mystery.

This concert takes place in The Model at 3.00pm and tickets at €20 (students €10) can be obtained from The Model, phone 071 9141405 or online at www.themodel.ie.