St. Mary’s Church
Church Rd. SW13 9HL
Shining new light on an old treasure. This Barnes Music Festival concert centres around ‘A Beautiful Object’: the harpsichord, with a new work of that same name by a rising figure on the contemporary music scene, composer Héloïse Werner. Auspiciously absent at the start, the harpsichord is introduced with music of its main era, in an arrangement that links its celebrated past to the present. With Héloïse’s piece, then follows an exciting journey of discoveries. Stephen Dodgson’s Sonata has beautiful serenade-like character, with its last movement a nod to the harpsichord’s illustrious past, guiding us back in time again to one of the Unmeasured Preludes by French Baroque composer Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre. The evening finishes with one of the most famous contemporary harpsichord concertos to date.
Bach Club is a concert curator, boutique label and home to Bach Club Soloists, an ensemble focusing on period instruments, new commissions, and remarkable collaborations. Bach Club founder and director Pawel Siwczak, is a Polish & British musician with a passion for historical keyboards, putting emphasis on the storytelling power of the language of music; the sheer ability to communicate expressively with the audience is key to him.
Programme
Purcell, arr. Britten, arr. Siwczak – Chacony in G Minor
Héloïse Werner – A Beautiful Object (world premiere)
Dodgson – Sonata for Four
de La Guerre – Unmeasured Prelude for harpsichord
De Falla – Concerto for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello
Bach Club Soloists, directed by Pawel Siwczak, with musicians from Britten Sinfonia
Thomas Hancox, Flute
Peter Facer, Oboe
Jackie Shave, Violin
Caroline Dearnley, Cello
Pawel Siwczak, Harpsichord