Tring Chamber Music 2018 - Last of the Summer

Howard Shelley returns to Tring with a concerto for keyboard by Haydn which reveals the composer at his most highly spirited; a characteristically graceful slow movement is encased by dazzlingly buoyant fast movements, especially the final Rondo, ‘ in the Hungarian style’. In the Prelude for solo violin, Schnittke intentionally confuses both the musical monograms of Shostakovich (DSCH) and of Bach (BACH) thus signifying their enormous effect on musical history. Bach’s own use of his own name forms a powerful, poignant and somewhat enigmatic role in the last, unfinished fugue from the ‘Art of Fugue’. These surprising bedfellows point directly to Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, a twentieth century masterpiece (and one of his most frequently played works). The Russian master opens with his own terse prelude and fugue. Proceeding through movements of elation, ecstasy and optimism, it is piece of music which is both beautifully balanced, and deeply satisfying.