Drawn from the principal players of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the ASMF Chamber Ensemble is praised for its “splendid playing; impeccable sound and balance” (Gramophone). This autumn, they travel to North America to perform a programme featuring a mixed octet of winds and strings: Britten’s lustrous arrangement of a 17th century Purcell work, the beguiling Nielsen quintet of 1914, Serenata In Vano, which Nielsen himself described as a ‘humorous trifle’, a rare, haunting octet by Irish composer Howard Ferguson, Dvorak’s prize-winning Quintet in G and Beethoven’s Septet in E flat major – arguably, the finest septet ever written.
Programme includes:
Nielsen Serenata in vano
Dvorak String Quintet in G major, Op. 77
Beethoven Septet in E flat major, Op. 20
Purcell arr. Britten Chacony for Strings
Ferguson Octet, Op. 4 (1933)
Tomo Keller, violin
Harvey de Souza, violin
Robert Smissen, viola
Richard Harwood, cello
Lynda Houghton, double bass
Tim Orpen, clarinet
Julie Price, bassoon
Stephen Stirling, horn