Carol McGonnell, clarinet

Elizabeth Cooney, violin

Finghin Collins, piano

Cello tbc

Bartok  Contrasts,  Sz 111  

Enescu  Prelude, Op 9   

Kimmo Hakola  Capriole for bass clarinet and cello  

Sibelius  Impromptu, Op 78 No 1  

                   Romance, Op 78 No 2

                   Mazurka, Op 81 No 1

Thomas Ades  Catch, Op 4    

Brahms  Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op 114

As Ireland enters its Presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2013, the occasion provides an opportunity to celebrate the magnificent body of chamber music that has emerged from all across the Union.  While many famous pillars of this repertoire are associated with France, Germany and Austria, in fact this rich pool of music, in all its diversity, has had many other sources too, in the Mediterranean, Slavic and Nordic countries, not to mention the two islands on the North-West tip!  This series straddles these diverse regions in a survey of some of the great chamber music from the past five centuries and our own.

Contrasts are a feature of the second concert, and not just in the work of that name by Bartok, written for clarinettist Benny Goodman.  Short, lyrical pieces of Sibelius are juxtaposed with the virtuosic, roller-coaster Capriole for bass clarinet and cello by Sibelius’ compatriot Kimmo Hakola.  Thomas Ades’ quirky Catch, which features a game between musicians trying to snare and lure each other, makes way for Brahms’ late masterpiece, his Clarinet Trio, of which a musicologist friend of the composer wrote to him: "It is as though the instruments were in love with each other." 

Ticket Information:

Prices: €20.00

Concessions: €15.00

20% dicsount for Friends of the National Concert Hall

Presented by the National Concert Hall