Tring Chamber - Elgar and Shakespeare's Kingdom

This concert features the glowing voice of soprano, Lorna Anderson, in songs inspired by the bard of Avon. After some instrumental Schubert we naturally gravitate to the Lied ( ‘An Sylvia’) tracing a path through Brahms ( Ophelia Songs), Elgar ( ‘When Shakespeare came to London’), to Mervyn Horder’s delightful ‘ Under the Greenwood Tree’ - a setting of Shakespeare to a tango rhythm. The English flavour of the evening allows us to include Vaughan Williams’ songs for voice and violin. The great Piano Quintet of Elgar is his most expansive chamber work, one with a hidden narrative involving some mysterious pine trees embodying the souls of Spanish Monks.