19 Aug 2023
George Enescu: Impromptu Concertante
Schubert: Fantasy in C major for violin and piano D934
Schubert: Rondo Brillant
Clara Schumann: Three Romances Op 22
Ravel: Violin Sonata (the Blues sonata)
Charlotte, who is supported in this concert by the Countess of Munster Trust, won the 2021 Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions and released, earlier this year, her debut solo album. Her pianist Joseph Havlat is an Australian musician who studied at the Royal Academy, and who is creating an impressive career as both pianist and composer.
They open their concert with a performance of George Enescu’s Impromptu Concertante, a short but intense evocation of Enescu’s beloved homeland, Romania.
In contrast to Schubert’s violin sonatas, which are essentially intimate works, his Rondo Brillant and his Fantasy are more extrovert pieces written for a young violin virtuoso, Joseph Slavik. Both were written towards the end of Schubert’s short life: the Rondo in 1826 and the Fantasy after the completion of his Winterreise song cycle.
Ravel’s Violin Sonata was written between 1923 and 1927, at the end of his composing life and dedicated to Helen Jourdan-Morhange with whom he shared a love of jazz. The sonata, especially its 2nd movement entitled “Blues” was inspired by the music of a classic blues band performing in Paris at that time.