17th June Concert Celebration

It seems to have become traditional to hold CMA’s end of year concert on one of the hottest days of the year. This year did not disappoint! But despite the heat all carried on practising in the morning with coaching from our regular tutors Charles Sewart, Garfield Jackson, Nathaniel Vallois and Pal Banda and new CMA tutor, Julian Leaper.

Each group focused on their concert piece. With all the notes already under their fingers, each made sure they were creating the right sound and feel of the particular movement they had chosen to perform.

After lunch, The Purcell School’s CP Hall was full with participants’ friends and family, eager to hear the outcome of hours of dedicated practise and expert coaching. Following CMA’s thank-yous from Charles Sewart, which can be found on the back of the programme, the concert began with Dvorak’s most famous work, the American Quartet. Following this lively, folk inspired work was our only piano ensemble giving a contrasting sober performance of the 2nd movement of Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat minor. Their ability to listen and play together was emphasised by the use of silence in this slow movement.

More Dvorak followed, but this group had chosen to play the first movement of his Quartet No.11 in C Major. Having gotten to know the piece very well, the group were able guide the listener through the thick and complex textures of the movement.

Afterwards, two 1st movements of Schubert Quartets. Anya led our youngest CMA group in a very enthusiastic rendition of his quartet No.9 whilst Gemma’s quartet brought a sorrowful character to Schubert’s A Minor Quartet, ‘Rosamunde.’ A sudden change of sound worlds took place as Polina’s quartet perfectly captured the French sororities of the first 2 movements of the Ravel. The concert finished with the 2nd movement of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, a theme and variation of Schubert’s song of the same name. It began with a captivating chorale like theme before slowly building to a terrifying climax and falling back to an ambiguous ending…

Congratulations to all who played! It was as always an excellent concert and opportunity to showcase their hard work.