150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan-williams
Chichester Chamber Concerts welcome their new president Simon Crawfordphillips, international pianist, chamber musician and conductor, to open the 202223 season in duo with one of today’s most in-demand violists Lawrence Power (Assembly Room, Chichester, Thursday, October 6).
Stockholm-based Simon is delighted to take up the new rolewithaconcertserieshehas long enjoyed a happy associationwith:“ihavehadanicerelationship with the concerts over the last few years, and Anna Hill (who runs them) invited me to become involved in an advisory role. It gives me a chance sometimes to come and play but I'm also in contact, suggesting peoplewhomightalsoperform.we areobviouslyjustcomingoutof the whole Covid thing so this is a good chance to be doing this.”
It's also another chance to work with Lawrence, a friend oflongstanding.theyhaveperformedtogetherfromlondon’s Wigmore Hall to New York’s Lincoln Center and have made many recordings together including Brahms, Arthur Benjamin and an all-french disc of works of Chausson, Ravel and Debussy.
For Chichester they will play: Ralph Vaughan-williams: Romance; Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo Op 119, No 1 (Piano solo); Johannes Brahms: Viola Sonata,op120,no2ineflatmajor; Robert Schumann: Märchenbilder; Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo Op 118, No 2 (Piano solo); and Johannes Brahms: Viola Sonata, Op 120, No 1 in F minor.
“Working with Lawrence is rather special. We have worked together since we left college and that's 25 years ago. Ithasbeenagreatmusicalpartnership, but we are also great friends. We both spend a lot of time in different countries, but we have managed to keep working together in different guises over the years. And I think it works because of the fact that we have that history of growing up together and studying with the same people sometimes. We have common points of reference musically, butwealsogetonhugelywellon and off the stage. It means that we know each other’s playing so well, you understand how people breathe, how people think about their music and we'rebothfascinatedmassively with a wide range of music. I do thinkweareverysimilarinalot of ways but I would like to think that we challenge each other as well. He certainly challenges me! I feel that I'm learning all the time with him.
“Lawrenceisoneoftheforemost viola players of the day. That’s unquestionable and it's wonderful to be playing with him in the UK so we wanted to present some of the main core repertoire for the viola which means the two Brahms viola sonatas that we are including. And it is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughanwilliams, and I think it is right that he should be reassessed and that anniversaries are a good time to do that. There are the central pieces like some of the symphonies and also Lark Ascendingthatiseveryone'sfavourite every year but there are so many sides to him as a composeronsomeoftheothersymphonies which are much more tormented, much darker and perhaps more interesting and probably give a more 3D sense of him as a composer.”
Tickets: Chichester Festival Theatre.