Greytown Music Group Concert

Hopefully, by the time you read this, and particularly by 28 June, we will still be in Level 2 or lower, and able to hold one of our 2020 concerts!

Our first 2 concerts have had to be cancelled due to Covid 19 restrictions, but the 3rd concert, Hammers & Horsehair, postponed from 31 May to 28 June, will be held at St Lukes Church, Greytown, a far more spacious venue than a house. Audience attendees will be spaced out in accordance with the virus restrictions at that time, so it is likely that numbers will be limited.

For this concert, the Hammers & Horsehair duo Douglas Mews on fortepiano, and Robert Ibell on cello, will join with violinist HyeWon Kim in a programme of lively music by Mozart and Beethoven.

Despite writing his Piano Trio in C when he was doing badly financially, and his wife was ill, needing expensive spa treatments, Mozart managed to compose an uncomplicated, cheerful and charming work largely free from the turmoil of his personal life. The programme also includes a Mozart Rondo, and Six Variations on “Helas, j’ai perdu mon Amant” for violin and piano.

In this year of commemorations to mark 250 years since Beethoven’s birth, Douglas and Robert will play the marvellous set of Twelve Variations on a Theme from Handel’s oratorio “Judas Maccabeus”, more familiar to many people as the hymn “Thine be the Glory”. All three musicians will join together for Beethoven’s Piano Trio in G, a work which Haydn described as “too advanced” to be accepted by the general public. Beethoven was irritated by this comment, ascribing it to jealousy on Haydn’s part.

Hammers & Horsehair: 4pm at St Luke’s Church, Greytown, on Sunday 28 June. Admission $25, $10 for students. Bookings essential as numbers will probably be limited. Ring Ed and Juliet Cooke on 06 304 9497, or email them on efjacooke@gmail.com.