Chamber Music Short Breaks, 2023/24

2023/24 SEASON CONSONE QUARTET MANDELRING QUARTET WILLIAM HOWARD & THE CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET

CHAMBER MUSIC

SHORT BREAKS IN THE UK

2023/24 SEASON

Hear great classical music performed by outstanding musicians of international repute.

Enjoy the intimacy and intensity of a recital hall little bigger than a large drawing room.

The music is introduced by musicologists or by the players themselves.

Mingle with the musicians, speakers, and with like-minded fellow music lovers.

Stay in comfort at the Castle Hotel in Taunton, and enjoy great food.

Our package includes accommodation, dinners, and afternoon teas as well as access to the concerts themselves.

Tickets to individual concerts are also available to purchase for those who live locally.

Martin Randall Festival staff are in attendance to help the events run smoothly and enjoyably.

10.

THE HOTEL

One of the most comfortable and welcoming in England.

4.

CONSONE QUARTET

3–5 November 2023

The Castle Hotel, Taunton

Speaker: Dr Katy Hamilton

6.

MANDELRING QUARTET

8–10 March 2024

The Castle Hotel, Taunton Speaker: Richard Wigmore

8.

WILLIAM HOWARD & THE CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET

19–21 April 2024

The Castle Hotel, Taunton

With musically illustrated talks

11

BOOKING Booking form, details about booking, and our terms and conditions.

14

SALZBURG STRING QUARTET FESTIVAL

Chamber music in Austria: discover our new festival.

CONSONE QUARTET

FROM HAYDN TO BRUCKNER ON PERIOD INSTRUMENTS

3–5 November 2023 (mj 101)

The Castle Hotel, Taunton

Price: from £920

Speaker: Dr Katy Hamilton

Agata Daraškaitė violin

Magdalena Loth-Hill violin

Elitsa Bogdanova viola

George Ross cello

The first period instrument quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, the Consone Quartet are fast making a name for themselves with their honest and expressive interpretations of Classical and Romantic repertoire. Formed at the Royal College of Music in London, they launched their career in 2015, shortly after which they were awarded prizes at the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition and the Royal Over-Seas League Competition.

In 2022 the group became a recipient of the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellowship. The quartet has performed throughout the UK and Europe as well as appearing on concert stages in South and North America. They began the 2023–24 season with appearances at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s Inselmusik, Perth Concert Hall, St Martin-inthe-Fields London and St George’s Bristol. They recently celebrated a new partnership with Linn Records, with the release of the first volume of their full Mendelssohn cycle.

Each concert covers a different theme:

‘Teacher and Student’. As a boy, Carl Czerny was brought to meet Beethoven – having impressed him with his prodigious talent as a pianist, he became Beethoven’s pupil and later a part of his inner circle in Vienna. This concert explores the link between the two.

‘Vienna’. This programme celebrates the Austrian city’s rich musical heritage, with three masterful quartets by Schubert, Haydn, and Bruckner – each work showcasing its composer’s unique style, from Schubert’s elegant lyricism to Haydn’s witty charm and Bruckner’s powerful emotional depth.

‘Friendship’. Schumann and Mendelssohn were close friends and held each other in mutual admiration. The third concert is a tribute to their well-documented and enduring friendship, and delves into the deep emotional bonds that inspire great music making.

‘Mozart and his Doppelgänger’. Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga was an extraordinarily talented Spanish violinist and composer. With a style closely reminiscent to Mozart’s, and arguably as prodigious as his Austrian counterpart, he has often been dubbed as ‘the Spanish Mozart’ – though his music should be appreciated in its own right. Like Mozart, Arriaga died at a tragically young age, though at just 19 compared to Mozart’s 35 years.

Photo: Consone Quartet ©Matthew Johnson

Talks on the music are given by Dr Katy Hamilton . A writer and broadcaster, she has provided talks for Wigmore Hall, BBC Proms and the Oxford Lieder Festival, and she is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 3.

PROGRAMME

FRIDAY 3 NOVEMBER, 5.30pm

‘Teacher and Student’

Beethoven, String Quartet in F, Op.59 No.1

Razumovsky

Czerny, String Quartet in A minor

SATURDAY 4 NOVEMBER, 10.30am

‘Vienna’

Schubert, String Quartet in B flat, D68 (in two movements)

Haydn, String Quartet in E flat, Op.64 No.6 Bruckner, String Quartet in C minor

SATURDAY 4 NOVEMBER, 5.30pm

‘Friendship’

Schumann, Selection from Bilder aus Osten , arr.

F. Hermann

Mendelssohn, String Quartet in E Minor, Op.44 No.2

Schumann, String Quartet No.3 in A

SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER, 10.30am

‘Mozart and his Doppelgänger’

Juan Arriaga, String Quartet No.2 in A Mozart, String Quartet in G, K387 Spring

PRACTICALITIES

Prices, per person. Two sharing: standard double £920; Garden Room £1,120. Single occupancy: single bedded room £920; double for sole use £1,030.

Included: four concerts, talks on the music, accommodation for two nights, breakfasts, two afternoon teas, two dinners, interval drinks, programme, tips for hotel staff.

Start and finish times. The event begins on Friday 3 November with afternoon tea available from 3.00–5.00pm (check in is from 3.00pm). The final concert ends at c. 12.30pm on Sunday 5 November.

Tickets to individual concerts: £25 mornings, £30 evenings. Interval refreshments and a programme are also included.

Hotel information: see page 10.

Booking information: see page 13.

MANDELRING QUARTET

CLASSICAL & ROMANTIC MASTERWORKS

8–10 March 2024 (mk 191)

The Castle Hotel, Taunton

Price: from £1,010

Speaker: Richard Wigmore

Sebastian Schmidt violin

Nanette Schmidt violin

Andreas Willwohl viola

Bernhard Schmidt cello

The award-winning Mandelring Quartet is renowned for expressivity and a remarkable homogeneity of sound. Through success at prestigious competitions early on in their career, the Quartet has garnered an international reputation and now has regular concert series at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Residenz in Munich. The ensemble has toured extensively and is frequently invited to perform at leading festivals. Their extensive recordings have received much critical acclaim, with their disc of Shostakovich’s complete quartets being regarded as a benchmark for the repertoire.

They have put together what could be regarded as a ‘classic Mandelring programme’ for their return to Taunton (their last appearance was in 2018) – a carefully curated selection of some of the most admired and greatest chamber works of the Classical and Romantic period: Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Ravel, Debussy, Janáček, Dvořák. A line-up of works that could arguably only be tackled in the space of one weekend by the most experienced of ensembles.

Talks on the music are provided by music writer, lecturer and broadcaster Richard Wigmore . Richard writes for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone and has taught at Guildhall, Trinity Laban and Birkbeck.

PROGRAMME

FRIDAY 8 MARCH, 5.30pm

Haydn, String Quartet Op.76 No.2 Fifths

Beethoven, String Quartet No.4 in C minor, Op.18 No.4

Ravel, String Quartet in F

SATURDAY 9 MARCH, 10.30am

Beethoven, String Quartet No.16 in F, Op.135

Dvořák, String Quartet No.12 in F, Op.96

The American

SATURDAY 9 MARCH, 5.30pm

Beethoven, String Quartet No.6 in B flat, Op.18 No.6

Janáček, String Quartet No.1 Kreutzer Sonata Mendelssohn, String Quartet in D, Op.44 No.1

SUNDAY 10 MARCH, 10.30am

Debussy, String Quartet in G minor, Op.10

Beethoven, String Quartet No.9 in C, Op.59 No.3 Razumovsky

CONTACT US: +44 (0)20 8742 3355

PRACTICALITIES

Prices, per person. Two sharing: standard double £1,010; Garden Room £1,230. Single occupancy: single bedded room £1,010; double for sole use £1,130.

Included: four concerts, talks on the music, accommodation for two nights, breakfasts, two afternoon teas, two dinners, interval drinks, programme, tips for hotel staff.

Start and finish times. The event begins on Friday 8th March with afternoon tea available from 3.00–5.00pm (check in is from 3.00pm). The final concert ends at c. 12.30pm on Sunday 10th March.

Tickets to individual concerts: £30 mornings, £35 evenings. Interval refreshments and a programme are also included.

Hotel information: see page 10.

Booking information: see page 13.

Audience member at the Mandelring Quartet’s previous appearance in Taunton.

Photo: The Mandelring Quartet ©Guido Werner

‘The Mandelring Quartet are magnificent performers... altogether an extraordinary series of concerts.’

& THE CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET

MOZART & THE MENDELSSOHNS

19–21 April 2024 (mk 242)

The Castle Hotel, Taunton

Price: from £1,010

Musically illustrated talks by William Howard

William Howard piano

Carducci String Quartet:

Matthew Denton violin

Michelle Fleming violin

Eoin Schmidt-Martin viola

Emma Denton cello

William Howard is one of Britain’s leading pianists, with a career that has taken him to over 40 countries. Having founded the Schubert Ensemble in 1983, he performed with them for the 35 years of its existence. As a soloist, he has appeared at many of Britain’s major festivals and halls, and has enjoyed residencies at several. William has performed multiple times on BBC Radio 3, at Wigmore Hall, and at the South Bank. He is passionate about 19th-century piano repertoire, and is particularly active in the commissioning of new works. This will be William’s sixth appearance at The Castle since 2011 – and his second with the Carducci.

The Carducci String Quartet are described by The Strad as presenting ‘a masterclass in unanimity of musical purpose, in which severity could melt seamlessly into charm, and drama into geniality’. Founded in 1997, it has become one of the most versatile and

accomplished ensembles of today, having mastered the core repertoire as well as branching out into contemporary genres. The group has won numerous international awards, including First Prize at Finland’s Kuhmo Chamber Music Competition, and has toured extensively within the UK and abroad.

These concerts offer a chance to explore some of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s most striking music in the company of two composers close to her heart. Her Quartet, Piano Trio and piano cycle Das Jahr display an extraordinary confidence and originality and an engaging musical personality. Alongside four of Mozart’s most adventurous chamber works, the programmes also include Felix Mendelssohn’s grief-stricken String Quartet Op.80, written shortly after his sister’s death, and his sparkling and much-loved Piano Trio in D minor.

William Howard will provide further enlightenment in the form of musicallyillustrated talks within each concert.

PROGRAMME

FRIDAY 19 APRIL, 5.30pm

Mozart, Piano Quartet No.2 in E flat, K493

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Pieces from Das Jahr (solo piano)

Felix Mendelssohn, String Quartet in F minor, Op.80

SATURDAY 20 APRIL, 10.30am

Felix Mendelssohn, Rondo Capriccioso, Op.14 (solo piano)

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Piano Trio in D minor, Op.11

Mozart, String Quartet No.19 in C, K465 Dissonance

SATURDAY 20 APRIL, 5.30pm

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Pieces from Das Jahr (solo piano)

Mozart, String Quartet No.17 in B flat, K458 The Hunt

Felix Mendelssohn, Piano Trio No.1 in D minor, Op.49

SUNDAY 21 APRIL, 10.30am

Felix Mendelssohn, String Quartet in A minor, Op.13

Mozart, Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, K478

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, String Quartet in E flat

PRACTICALITIES

Prices, per person. Two sharing: standard double £1,010; Garden Room £1,230. Single occupancy: single bedded room £1,010; double for sole use £1,130.

Included: four concerts, talks on the music, accommodation for two nights, breakfasts, two afternoon teas, two dinners, interval drinks, programme, tips for hotel staff.

Start and finish times. The event begins on Friday 19th April with afternoon tea available from 3.00–5.00pm (check in is from 3.00pm). The final concert ends at c. 12.50pm on Sunday 21st April.

Tickets to individual concerts: £30 mornings, £35 evenings. Interval refreshments and a programme are also included.

Hotel information: see page 10. Booking information: see page 13.

Audience member at ‘William Howard & the Carducci String Quartet’ in 2021.

Photos: William Howard ©Edward Webb Carducci String Quartet ©Andy Holdsworth

‘The thoughtful programme presented by William Howard gave us new insights.’

THE HOTEL

THE CASTLE HOTEL, TAUNTON

The Castle is renowned for its excellent service, for comforts traditional and modern, and for its superb catering. It has been owned and run by the Chapman family for over 60 years. Chamber music events have been held here since 1977, and Martin Randall Travel took over the running of them in 2003.

The hotel’s bedrooms are individually and charmingly decorated. Doubles and twins are mainly of a good size, and the largest –the Garden Rooms – overlook the garden. There is no single-occupancy supplement for the rooms with single beds. The majority of rooms have a bath with a shower fitment.

The hotel has a lift, though some bedrooms are then accessed via stairs. The Music Room is on a mezzanine level, up a flight of stairs from the lobby.

Taunton lies on the doorstep of Exmoor and the Quantocks, areas with some of the loveliest countryside in England.

www.the-castle-hotel.com

NAME(S) – as you wish them to appear on the list of participants. Please note that we do not use titles:

Participant 1:

Participant 2:

CONTACT DETAILS – for all correspondence:

Address: Postcode

Telephone (home)

Mobile

For speed and efficiency, we provide your event and booking documents online where possible. Please confirm whether you are happy to receive documents online: Yes No

E-mail

EVENT & ACCOMMODATION – please select your choice(s) of event and room category:

Room category

Consone Quartet

3–5 November 2023 (mj 101)

Mandelring Quartet

8–10 March 2024 (mk 192)

William Howard & The Carducci String Quartet

19–21 April 2024 (mk 242)

Single room

Double for sole use

Standard double – two sharing

Garden Room – two sharing

With: twin beds double bed

FURTHER INFORMATION. Please notify us of dietary restrictions (for example, religious, medical or if you are vegetarian or vegan). Please also use this space to request extra nights.

Please complete this section, even if you have told us your preferences before.

How would you like to be kept informed about our future tours and events?

Brochures sent by post: Yes No E-newsletter: Yes No

What prompted this booking? It is very helpful for us to know how you first heard about these events, and if you can be specific, e.g. if in an advertisement, the name of the publication it appeared in; if we sent you a communication, what type? (e-mail or post?):

PAYMENT

We prefer payments by bank transfer. We cannot currently accept payment through our website. All money paid to us is fully protected regardless of payment method.

Please tick one option:

BANK TRANSFER. Please give your surname and tour code (e.g. MK123) only as a reference and ask your bank to allow for all charges.

Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd.

Bank: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP

Account number: 4054 4558 • Sort code: 20–96–63

Transfers from non-UK bank accounts:

Please instruct your bank to send payment in pound sterling (GBP)

IBAN: GB19 BARC 2096 6340 5445 58 • Swift/BIC: BARC GB22

DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD. I authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact me by telephone to take payment from my Visa credit/Visa debit/Mastercard/AMEX.

Please tick payment amount:

EITHER Deposit(s) : 10% of your total booking cost.

OR Full Payment. Required if you are booking within 10 weeks of the start of the event.

TOTAL PAYMENT: £

I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions and Privacy Policy (martinrandall.com/ privacy) on behalf of all listed on this form.

Signature:

Date:

Martin Randall Travel Ltd

10 Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4PH

Tel: +44 (0)20 8742 3355 | info@martinrandall.co.uk

www.martinrandall.com

MAKING A BOOKING

We recommend that you contact us first to make a booking option which we will hold for one week. To confirm your place(s), please then send your booking form and the deposit (10% of your total booking cost) to us within this period. If you are booking within ten weeks of the event, we require full payment.

BOOKING CONDITIONS

Our contract with you. From the time we receive your signed booking form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd.

Insurance. We recommend you take out travel insurance to protect you in the event of cancellation and loss or theft of belongings. Overseas residents must take out travel insurance to include cover for medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property, cancellation charges and that protects the cost of your international travel (in the unlikely event that we cancel the event). Experience indicates that free travel insurance offered by credit card companies is not to be relied upon.

If you cancel. If you have to withdraw from your booking, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before the event’s start date, the deposit is forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost will be due:

from 56 to 29 days: 40% from 28 to 15 days: 60% from 14 to 4 days: 80% within 72 hours: 100%

We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive your written confirmation of cancellation.

Additional costs for individual arrangements (e.g. extra hotel nights) are subject to the same cancellation charges, apart from in the instance where we have previously notified you that an additional cost is non-refundable.

Individual concert tickets are now handled by Martin Randall Travel. Please call us on 020 8742 3355 to book over the telephone or send an e-mail to info@martinrandall.co.uk

If we cancel the event. We may decide to cancel an event if there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable (though this would always be more than eight weeks before its start date). We would refund you everything you had paid us. The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of the event, except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails.

If we make changes. Circumstances might arise which prevent us from running the event exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the event we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative is not acceptable, we would give a full refund.

Financial protection. We provide full financial protection for our package holidays that do not include a flight by way of a bond held by ABTOT – The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited. So, in the (highly unlikely) event of our insolvency in advance of the event, you would get your money back, or if we failed after it had begun, the event would be able to continue.

English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Privacy. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have read and agree to our Privacy Policy, which can be found online at www.martinrandall.com/privacy.

SALZBURG STRING QUARTET FESTIVAL

7–12 May 2024 (mk 262)

Price: from £2,810

Speaker: Dr Katy Hamilton

For full details, please contact us or visit www.martinrandall.com

Salzburg is probably the best possible location for a music festival (and indeed we are not the first to have realised that). Crammed into a cleft in the hills scoured by the fast-flowing River Salzach, the former seat of prince-archbishops is as dense with delights as any small town in Central Europe. A congeries of courts, alleys, passages, streets and squares threads through ancient structures of stone and stucco and enthrals both the visitor and the resident with picturesque vistas, magnificent architecture and fine craftsmanship.

Perhaps more than any city of comparable size, there is an array of fine hotels from which to choose. And, constrained by the cliffs that mark the landward edge of the old city, it is small: all the hotels and concert venues, as well as the museums and the architectural monuments, are within easy walking distance of each other.

This new festival – unlikely to be repeated for a number of years – brings together eight absolutely first-rate string quartet ensembles, ranging from the young but hugely talented to world-famous masters of the genre: the Casals, Chiaroscuro, Cremona, Marmen, Navarra, Schumann, Simply and Wihan all appear.

The range of quartets performed is balanced carefully between the greatest core composers (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert) and a range of styles and nationalities (Verdi, Ravel, Dvořák) – with a judicious peppering of additional performers (Mendelssohn Octet, Schubert Quintet, Brahms Sextet No.1).

Talks on each concert are given by musicologist Dr Katy Hamilton, or the musicians themselves.

With 12 concerts and multiple opportunities to meet the musicians, this will be a Martin Randall Festival like no other – an intense and convivial musical experience, enlightening and thrilling.

Illustration: Salzburg, lithograph by Leopold Rottmann after a drawing by Georg Pezolt.

MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL

is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.

MRT aims to produce the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, architecture, archaeology, history, music and gastronomy, and are spread across Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, Japan and the Americas.

For 2024 we have planned c. 170 expertled tours for small groups (usually 10–20 participants), four music festivals, a number of history and music breaks and an extensive programme of online talks and Culture Days in London.

For over 35 years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, setting the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.

To see our full range of cultural tours and events, please visit www.martinrandall.com

Martin Randall Travel Ltd

10 Barley Mow Passage

London W4 4PH

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 8742 3355

From North America: 1 800 988 6168

info@martinrandall.co.uk

www.martinrandall.com

Martin Randall Australasia

PO Box 1024

Indooroopilly QLD 4068 Australia

Tel 1300 55 95 95

NZ 0800 877 622

anz@martinrandall.com.au