Pelléas Ensemble
Tuesday, 15th November 2022 – 7.30pm
Performers
The Pelléas Ensemble – for the unusual combination of viola, flute and harp – are rising stars in chamber music. Hailed by The Times for the ‘verve and polish’ of their playing, they have won several awards including the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award in 2018. Their 2021 début album, Nature and the Imagination, was praised by Gramophone magazine for being ‘beautifully played’.
They have been praised for creating an immediate and intimate connection with their audiences. Everything is played from memory; no music stands come between them and their audience.
Their programme this evening ranges far and wide, including music by John Dowland and Henry Purcell in 16th and 17th century England, and extracts from Tchaikovsky’s celebrated ballet, Swan Lake. It starts with Debussy’s sensuous Prélude à l’Après-Midi d’un Faune – one of the most important works of the 20th century.
‘Delightful music-making by three very fine young musicians’ – Keswick Music Society
‘Pelléas Ensemble presented both fresh and familiar fare…. playing with captivating vitality… (and)…with deceptive effortlessness and delicacy’ – Seen and Heard International
Programme
Debussy, arr. Roberts Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune
Rebecca Clarke, arr. Tunnicliffe Four Songs
Jolivet Petite Suite
Dowland, arr. Tunnicliffe In Darkness Let me Dwell / If my Complaints Could Passions Move
Purcell , arr. Tunnicliffe Fantasia upon One Note
Ethel Smyth Variations on Bonny Sweet Robin
Tchaikovsky Selections from Swan Lake
Watch
The Pelléas Ensemble play music by Debussy, Rameau and Prokofiev in a 2020 concert at York University:
and an arrangement of Ravel’s Sonatine at a Wigmore Hall concert in 2017: