Ensemble 360
Sunday 2nd March 2025, 3:00 PM Royal Spa Centre, Newbold Terrace, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 4HN.
Benjamin Britten – 3 Divertimenti
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – Clarinet Quintet in F sharp minor, Op.10
Joseph Holbrooke – Eilean Shona for Clarinet Quintet
Antonin Dvorak – String Quartet no.12 in F major ‘American’, Op.96
Performers
Ensemble 360
Programme Note
Robert Plane clarinet
Benjamin Nabarro and Claudia Ajmone-Marsan violins
Rachel Roberts viola, Gemma Rosefield cello
Ensemble 360 present a sumptuous afternoon of folk-inflected chamber music for strings and clarinet, which combines well-known works with some new discoveries.
Britten’s early invention and whimsy are at the fore in his charming and characterful Divertimenti. Holbrooke’s intoxicating depiction of a Scottish Island is a magical celtic evocation for clarinet and strings. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s exquisite Clarinet Quintet, arguably the composer’s greatest achievement in chamber music, owes a clear debt to the work of Dvořák, whose profoundly moving and ultimately celebratory ‘American’ Quartet reworks a cornucopia of diverse folk traditions and concludes this intimate and expansive programme.