Tuesday 26 October 3.00 pm
Julian Jacobson and Mariko Brown (piano duo)
Mozart: Sonata in C for piano duo K521 (17')
Allegro / Andante / Allegretto
Frederick Viner: Riffs on Seven (2018) (5')
Wagner: Good Friday Music from Parsifal transcr. Humperdinck (10')
Julian Jacobson Palm Court Waltz (in memoriam Richard Rodney Bennett) (2013)
Poulenc: Sonata for four hands (7')
Prelude / Rustique / Finale
Formed in 2011, the piano duo of Julian Jacobson and Mariko Brown is now established as an ensemble of rare distinction, vitality and originality. Performances in London include St John's Smith Square, Fairfield Hall, Blackheath Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Markson's Bösendorfer series and Clapham Omnibus. The duo has been featured in the Lower Machen and Stow-in-the-Wold Festivals, at Manchester Art Gallery, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Chetham's School of Music and many other venues. Abroad they have appeared regularly in France including their Paris debut in November 2018, and twice at the Madeira PianoFest. They have given three highly acclaimed concerts at the Southbank Purcell Room, in 2014, 2015 and 2019. Their first recording was a CD of the music of Julian's father Maurice Jacobson for the Naxos/British Music Society label. In 2017 they released their first CD on the SOMM label, pairing Busoni's towering masterpiece the Fantasia contrappuntistica (easily the most compelling account I have ever heard – Musical Opinion) with a collection of rare French, Italian and English works including premiere recordings of the duet version of Debussy's neglected ballet score Khamma and Anthony Herschel Hill's Nocturne for two pianos. In July this year they released their second CD for SOMM with music of Bernstein (the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story in John Musto's version for two pianos) and Gershwin, with Julian's virtuoso four-hands transcriptions of 'An American in Paris' and the Second Rhapsody (published by Bardic Edition) as well as Rhapsody in Blue. The CD has already received 5-star reviews. The duo continues to explore new and neglected repertoire alongside their commitment to the great classics of the repertoire.
Julian Jacobson writes, re Palm Court Waltz, in memory of Richard Rodney Bennett, ‘ I played for Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's 70th and 75th birthday concerts in London; I got to know him quite well and was deeply saddened by his sudden death in New York in December 2012. Developed from a short waltz I had written many years earlier for a music cruise, this concert waltz is my personal tribute to Richard in his light music mode. It quotes briefly from his great waltz theme for "Murder on the Orient Express". The Waltz is published by Bardic Edition.
Frederick Viner writes : Riffs on Seven takes a catchy little ostinato - or 'riff', to use the more apt, pop-infused term - and wrings it for all its melodic potential. The four hands must juggle the riff and its many variations while navigating frantic textures and jostling for space on a crowded keyboard! Underpinning all this of course is the 'Seven': 7/8, which turned out to be a particularly toe-tapping time signature.
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