The eighth concert in the series featured Schubert’s Piano Trio in E flat major D. 929. It was one of the last works that he composed and the MS is dated November 1827. It is a truly astonishing work in terms of creative imagination; form, scale, harmony and texture are all approached in new and original ways and, similarly to all late Schubert, the music seems to be taking us into a new and futuristic world, whilst painting his world and culture in sound. We paired this with an equally extraordinary work; Maurice Ravel’s Piano Trio of 1914. This too takes the listener and the performers into new and brave places with it’s highly pianistic, yet orchestral, piano writing and brand new string writing which includes extended techniques. It is phenomenally virtuosic for all the players, exotic in its sound-world and exciting from first to last notes!

The seventh concert in the series features two more youthful works by Schubert (are there any which aren’t?); the string trio movement in B flat D. 471 and the Adagio and Rondo Concertante D. 487 for piano and strings. Also on the programme is Mozart’s wonderful piano quartet in G minor K. 478.

The sixth concert in the series featured Schubert’s 3rd Sonata for violin and piano in G minor D 408. Composed when Schubert was just 19, it is the last of the set of three written in 1816. The largest work today was the wonderful Romantic Sonata for viola and piano by Sir Arthur Bliss written in 1933 and dedicated to the great English violist Lionel Tertis. 2025 is the 50th Anniversary of Bliss’s death so we were delighted to be able to remember his achievements in this way. We also welcomed mezzo soprano Rosalind Hardie to sing the exquisite Zwei Gesänge, Op. 91 by Brahms, which are scored with viola obligato and piano and two of Schubert’s songs; Death and the Maiden and The young Nun.

The fifth concert in our Schubert series features Schubert’s heavenly ‘Notturno’ in Eb D. 897 for piano trio. Probably composed as the original slow movement for the Bb piano trio, this wonderful piece has a similarly timeless quality to the slow movement of the great C major string quintet, hypnotic with it’s repeating textures and rhythms and profoundly Romantic in its extraordinary harmony. Sarah, Heather and Harvey also play Clara Schumann’s trio Op. 17 from 1846 and the exciting trio by Welsh composer William Mathias Op. 30 (1965).

The fourth concert in our Schubert series is given by the fabulous young soprano Rosa Sparks, clarinettist Janet Hilton, violinist Sarah Ewins and pianist Harvey Davies. The programme includes Schubert’s ‘Shepherd on the Rock’, his Offertorium ‘Totus in corde langueo’ and John McCabe’s beautiful folksong settings for soprano, clarinet and piano, Schubert’s A minor violin sonata and McCabe’s ‘Snowfall in Winter’ for solo piano.

The third concert in our new Schubert series was given by the Powell/Davies piano duo. Ben and Harvey will play two of Schubert’s greatest works for piano duet, his Variations in A flat D. 813 written in 1824 and perhaps the most famous piano duet of all time, the Fantaisie in F minor D. 940 of 1828. They will couple this fabulous music with some of György Kurtág’s amazing Bach transcriptions and his own inspired and highly-original short works.

The second concert in our new Schubert series features the magnificent and virtuosic Introduction and Variations on ‘Trockne Blumen’ for flute and piano D 802 (1824). The theme is from his own eponymous song from the cycle ‘Die Schöne Müllerin’. Jonathan Rimmer joins Heather and Harvey for flute trios by Pleyel and Louise Farrenc.

We begin our new series with Schubert’s early exploration of the piano trio medium; the little-known Bb trio, D. 28 also known as the Sonatensatz written when Franz Peter was just 14 years of age. Although showing Mozartian influences, the music already clearly carries Schubert’s distinctive fingerprints. This charming work is the perfect opener for our new exploration of another major composer’s chamber music output. We pair it with the D major Sonata for violin and piano and Mendelssohn’s great piano trio in D minor, Op. 49.