麻豆社

Sean Rafferty introduces this week of Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts recorded at the 2010 West Cork Chamber Music Festival in the glorious surrounds of Bantry House and St Brendan's Church in Bantry on the south west tip of Ireland. Today the festival's guest performers come together to perform Schubert's Piano Quintet in A major, The Trout - commissioned at a time when Schubert was on a walking tour of Upper Austria, you can almost smell the Alpine air in the music!. Sylvester Paumgarten, a wealthy cellist, arts patron and mine owner, was the commissioner. He was particularly fond of the Schubert's song Die Forelle (Trout) and this is quite possibly the reason why Schubert used the song as the theme for the 4th movement set of variations. More songs feature in Moeran's Fantasy Quartet. The score bears the name of the Norfolk village, Rockland St Mary and perhaps these surroundings inspired Moeran to feature two Norfolk folk songs in this one movement work from 1946.

Schubert Piano Quintet in A major D.667 'Trout'

Kirill Gerstein [piano], Nicola Benedetti [violin], Hartmut Rohde [viola], Leonard Elschenbroich [cello], Dominic Dudley [double bass]

Moeran Fantasy Quartet
Nicholas Daniel [oboe], Cappa Ensemble: Bartosz Woroch [violin]; Adam Newman [viola]; Brian O'Kane [cello]

Background:

In the height of summer the West Cork town of Bantry becomes one of the most important Festival destinations in Ireland with the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, West Cork Literary Festival and the Masters of Tradition Festival.

The historic town comes alive for nine days in late June and early July for the West Cork Chamber Music Festival with world-class chamber music from morning to night in the intimate library of historic Bantry House and the town's two beautiful churches, St Brendan's and St Finbarr's.