Harmony Beyond Music

Harmony Beyond Music is a series of chamber music recitals exploring themes of equality and diversity, performed by internationally recognised musicians brought together by leading pianist Reiko Fujisawa.

Fujisawa plays cleanly, crisply and with brilliant rhythmic drive.

(TheArtsDesk.com)

As well as Reiko, this performance features cellist Richard Harwood.

Possessing a sweet, intimate tone, Harwood tackled this work with consummate ease delivering the filigree with laser-like intonation. He impressed with the intensity of his vibrato on the higher notes.

(**** BachTrack)

The concert is introduced by Peter Quantrill, a writer who contributes regularly to Gramophone and The Strad, as well as writing for the Salzburg Festival, Warner Classics, Opera and Pianist magazines.

Music has never been written, performed or appreciated in a bubble. It engages with the time and place of its composition and performance as social and political themes are expressed through the music of the day. Racial and social justice, political and gender oppression, the struggle for freedom and recognition of the individual: music illuminates these themes as a mirror of its time.

Voices of Protest is the first event in this significant new project. Protest doesn’t have to take the form of grim defiance. Arvo Pärt rebelled from Soviet conformity with a new and timeless voice of calm. Martinù wrote his Second Sonata in the US as a wartime exile from his beloved Czech lands, but he translated his exile into music of joy in adversity. In the hands of Weinberg and Casals, the cello becomes an extension of the human voice, conquering struggle with heroic defiance.

Programme

Arvo Pärt Fratres
Martinu Cello Sonata no. 2 H. 286

Interval

Beethoven Variations on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ op. 66
Weinberg Cello Sonata no. 1 op. 21
Casals Song of the Birds

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Richard Harwood cello

Reiko Fujisawa piano

Peter Quantrill introductions and insights

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