Two happy musicians

Here you see Robert Plane with Gary Pomeroy at the Corbridge Chamber Music Festival.

Rob is a brilliant clarinettist. Gary is a brilliant viola player. In fact all the musicians are brilliant and it is a joy to hear them. They clearly love playing at the festival. 

Gary is a founder member of the Heath string quartet, but it is his first time in Corbridge. Rob is one of the organisers of the festival, along with his wife, Lucy Gould, of the Gould Piano Trio.

I missed the morning concert and hear it was magical.

This afternoon we heard the Brahms Clarinet Sonata in Eb, Op 120 no 2, followed by the piano quintet by Adolf Busch. This was an amazing piece of music, patchy in excellence, but played with total commitment by the musicians.

This evening it was the turn of Dvorak, with his bagatelles for two violins, cello and harmonium. (Not harmonica as someone told me this morning!) Then John Casken spent time explaining his Piano Trio. I try to be a fan but fail. He spoke well. Finally the glorious Brahms sextet in G Major Op 36.

After a break, the second evening concert began at 10pm. Donald Grant is an amazing violinist and fiddler. He grew up in Roybridge where his father is a Gaelic singer and teacher of the language. If you have the chance to hear Donald, you must. He played some traditional Scottish tunes and several he had composed, and he sang. Three of the classical musicians were roped in to play accompaniments. They were game, but it's not easy to translate to a different tradition. 

The audience loved it all.

The atmosphere is always warm and friendly. There are two concerts tomorrow. Do come if you can.