Shostakovich - Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57

Aulis Sallinen – Chamber Music V for accordion and string quintet

Interval

Schubert - String Quintet in C major, D956

Katya Apekisheva - piano
James Crabb - accordion
Corey Cerovsek - violin
Jack Liebeck - violin
Alexandra Raikhlina - violin
Simon Oswell - viola
Benjamin Roskams - viola
Thomas Carroll - cello
Benjamin Hughes - cello

Unusually, something we have played in the Festival before – although only once, eight years ago. Not the Shostakovich or Salinen, both of which are new, but the Schubert. The Sallinen piece, also known as the “Barabbas Variations”  contains many echoes of Piazzolla and the tango. Both the Shostakovich and the Schubert are towering works, suitable for finishing a Festival – except that one wants the slow movement of the Schubert never to end.

The popular notion of a black hole "sucking in everything" from its surroundings only happens very close to a black hole. Far away, the pull of the black hole is identical to that of anything else of the same mass. However, black holes do give rise to many remarkable phenomena such as extragalactic quasars and, in our own Galaxy, microquasars. This is because gravity is not the only law of physics that must be obeyed. Matter can be spun off from near black holes in the form of winds and jets that spread through their surroundings and thus cause black holes to have tremendous cosmic influence many light years beyond their event horizons. Katherine will describe various approaches that she employs to investigate these phenomena, and their spin-offs.

Piazzolla – 3 Tango Sensations for accordion and string quintet (Anxiety, Asleep, Fear)

Vaughan Williams – Lark Ascending (with Corey Cerovsek and James Crabb)

Agri/Carli - Desde Adentro arr. Crabb (accordion, string quintet and piano)

Saint-Saens – Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 (with Jack Liebeck and James Crabb)

James Crabb - accordion
Amandine Savary - piano
Corey Cerovsek - violin
Jack Liebeck - violin
Alexandra Raikhlina - violin
Simon Oswell - viola
Thomas Carroll - cell
Benjamin Hughes - cello
Tim Gibbs - double bass

The accordion is an instrument not often heard in chamber music but it has its own distinctive voice and repertoire. Today we hear some of the best of that repertoire, both in original compositions and in arrangements by James Crabb, one of the world’s finest players.

Vivaldi - Concerto for Violin and Accordion, RV542 with String Quintet

Beethoven - Piano Quartet No 1 in E flat major, WoO 36

Piazzolla – Libertango (accordion, strings)

Piazzolla – Oblivion (accordion, piano and strings)

Interval

Brahms - String Sextet in B-flat major, Op. 18

Amandine Savary - piano
James Crabb - accordion
Corey Cerovsek - violin
Jack Liebeck - violin
Alexandra Raikhlina - violin
Simon Oswell - viola
Benjamin Roskams - viola
Thomas Carroll - cello
Benjamin Hughes - cello
Tim Gibbs - double bass

The pieces in the first part of the concert are all new entrants to Oxford May Music. Our Administrative Director is going to have his work cut out writing this year’s programme notes! Not only new, but a tremendous variety, covering Baroque to Twentieth Century and geographically from Venice to Rio. The first two pieces are arrangements; the Vivaldi from the chamber orchestra to a string ensemble, the Beethoven from a wind ensemble. The latter was done by the composer himself to increase sheet music sales; the former is modern. Piazzolla swings us into the interval. The final piece, Brahms Sextet was played in the Festival in 2018 but that seems like aeons ago - anyway, who needs an excuse to replay anything by Brahms?

By late 2021, the COVID pandemic has become one of the most serious infectious diseases of recent years. Only the influenza pandemic of 1918 and the AIDS pandemic which has persisted since the early 1980s have had similar intensities universally. The viruses responsible for the three diseases are distinctly different and the responses of the medical communities have also differed and depended to a large extent on advances in technology. I will describe how these advances have developed since 1918, how they have combined to inform current public health responses and how they might influence medical practice and research in the future.

Mozart: Sonata in F major, K332

Szymanowski: 3 Mazurkas, Op. 50 Nos. 1 - 3

Chopin: 3 Mazurkas, Op.59 No. 3, Op.30 No. 3, Op. 24 No. 4

Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31

Katya Apekisheva - piano

Katya begins with one of Mozart’s most technically challenging, but also most elegant, sonatas. Chopin and his compatriot, Szymanowski, both loved the Polish folk-dance knows as the Mazurka. The latter wrote two sets of twenty; the former wrote around 70 but amazingly only 58 have been published. Katya concludes with a mighty Chopin work, the second Scherzo.

Bruch – Octet for strings in B flat major, Op. post.

Gubaidulina – De Profundis for Solo Accordion

Interval

Franck – Prelude, Fuge and Variations for Piano and Accordion, Op. 18

Mozart – Piano Concerto K414, arranged for Piano and String Quintet

Katya Apekisheva - piano
Amandine Savary - piano
James Crabb - accordion
Corey Cerovsek - violin
Jack Liebeck - violin
Alexandra Raikhlina - violin
Ilhem Ben Khalfa - violin
Simon Oswell - viola
Benjamin Roskams - viola
Thomas Carroll - cello
Benjamin Hughes - cello
Tim Gibbs - double bass

We mark the centenary of Bruch’s death - two year’s late, but, hey, external events got in the way - with his wonderful Octet, itself only published after he had died. This is another programme that contains only pieces new to the Festival. It is a delight to programme a piece by distinguished contemporary composer Sophia Gubaidulina, as well as an unusual piece by Cesar Franck. We end with a familiar and wonderful Mozart Piano Concerto, but in chamber music guise!

Over 50 years ago the acceptance of plate tectonics led to a new paradigm in the Earth Sciences. As a result, we now better understand why earthquakes occur where they occur and how volcanoes are formed. However, the question of what defines a tectonic plate is still ambiguous. To better understand the formation of tectonic plates, nearly 80 ocean-bottom sensors were deployed for a year across the equatorial region of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This ambitious experiment is providing striking new images of plates and fresh insights into the forces that move them across the surface of the Earth. 

Mike’s website

Boccherini - Sonata in C Minor G. 2

Ysaÿe - Sonata for Solo Cello in C Minor, Op. 28

Janáček - Pohádka

Ligeti - Sonata for Solo Cello

Brahms - Sonata for Piano and Cello No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99

Rainer Crosett - cello

Simon Parkin - piano

A virtuoso cellist himself, Boccherini wrote 32 cello sonatas. Although this is dwarfed by his quartet and quintet output, quality triumphs over quantity. Ysaÿe in contrast was one of the greatest violin virtuosos of any age; his six stupendous solo violin sonatas were recorded last year by our Musical Director. This solo cello sonata is therefore somewhat of a find. Janáček’s tragic life is not reflected in this graceful and ethereal piece, whose title translates as “fairy tale”. Ligeti’s impressive solo sonata alternates frenetic energy with haunting melody. Brahms’ cello sonatas are a staple of the cello repertoire; the F major’s grandiloquent opening movement, deeply felt slow movement and alternating warmth and passion of the finale make this a favourite among favourites.

Korngold: Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 6

Stravinsky: Divertimento Suite from “The Fairy's Kiss”

Jack Liebeck, violin

Danny Driver, piano

Korngold was only 16 when he wrote his Violin Sonata - and note that this is Op. 6! Stravinsky’s suite, selected from the music he composed for his ballet “The Fairy’s Kiss”, which is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s children’s fairy story, the “Ice Maiden”, rounds off a refreshingly young-at-heart programme.

Beethoven - Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 11 "Gassenhauer"

Babajanian - Piano Trio in F sharp minor

Interval

Ireland - “Phantasie” Trio in A minor

Brahms - Piano Trio in C major, Op. 87

Salieca Piano Trio:

Jack Liebeck - violin

Thomas Carroll - cello

Amandine Savary - piano

Our resident Trio, the Salieca, get the Festival off to its musical start with an eclectic mix of classical and modern pieces, all new to the Festival. Beethoven’s “Gassenhauer” takes its name from the fact that some of its themes were so catchy that they were whistled in Vienna’s streets (or Gasse as they are known). The Piano Trio of Arno Babajanian, a contemporary of Shostakovich, is his best known work and makes use of Armenian folk melodies. Ireland’s Trio was one of the many British chamber works on the theme of “Fantasy”, some of which we have heard before in the Festival, brought into being by the Cobbett Competition that began in 1905. We end with Brahms Second Piano Trio, which he completed at his favourite holiday resort, Bad Ischl, in the summer of 1882.

Our daily lives are dependent on products produced by the materials and chemical industries, but with feedstocks based largely on non-renewable sources, especially fossil carbon, and with production and utilization cycles often involving disposal after use. A sustainable, prosperous and net zero carbon society will require us to move to sustainable, renewable feedstocks and circular production and utilization cycles. This shift presents enormous challenges which can only be met by major innovations in chemical, especially catalytic science. This lecture will discuss how catalytic science is rising to this challenge, by innovations in, for example, the transformation of carbon dioxide into fuels and chemicals, and the sustainable manufacture of plastics and pharmaceuticals. We will focus on the key scientific and technological areas where intensive research and development will be needed to achieve the sustainable production of the fuels, materials and medicines on which we will continue to depend.

Richard’s webpage