Strelitzia Ensemble Plays The Classics And The Contemporary In Book Of Departures

Strelitzia Ensemble comprising violinist Lucy Warren, cellist Eleanor Betts and pianist Michael Curtain, presents Book of Departures, featuring music by Haydn, Shostakovich, Ravel and Greenbaum. Part of the Independent Theatre’s Prelude in Tea series, the programme explores four very different works for piano trio, from the classical to the contemporary.

Haydn was one of the first composers to write for piano trio, and his bubbly, witty and very extroverted Trio in C Major is from a final set of ten, sometimes referred to as the ‘London Trios’, that he wrote during his second highly successful trip to London after his retirement from service to the Esterhazy family. Australian composer Stuart Greenbaum originally composed his work Book of Departures as a final commission for the disbanding Sonic Arts Ensemble in 2007. It is a work that travels through sadness and nostalgia to finish with a kind of triumphant optimism, and as Greenbaum writes, “‘Departure’ is an interesting word. It can denote sadness and nostalgia – but it can equally refer to the outset of exciting new journeys and in my mind this piece attempts to address both meanings”.

At the tender age of 16, Shostakovich was sent to a sanatorium in Crimea to recover from tuberculosis, where he met and fell in love with Tatyana Glivenko. An uncharacteristically romantic work, Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8 is an interesting departure from the style many often associate with Shostakovich, filled as it is with lush melodies and lovesick outpourings. The outbreak of World War I spurred on Maurice Ravel to complete his Piano Trio, as he described to Stravinsky: “The idea that I should be leaving at once made me get through five months’ work in five weeks!”

The performers: The Strelitzia Ensemble/ Lucy Warren, violin/ Eleanor Betts, cello/ Michael Curtain, piano

The programme: F.J. Haydn – Piano Trio in C Major, Hob. XV: 27/ Stuart Greenbaum – Book of Departures / Dmitri Shostakovich – Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8/ Maurice Ravel – Piano Trio

Tickets: $47 Adult, $30 Concession, $22 student and $16 child.

Bookings: www.theindependent.org.au  or phone  9955 3000