Merton Abbey Music

~ SUNDAY EVENING MUSIC AMONG FRIENDS ~

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Our repertoire  -  something for every taste

Regular  guest artist Neil Black in Mozart's Oboe Quartet		 In over 160 concerts since 1996, over 250 different artists have performed over 700 works by over 200 composers (not counting 80 repeats). Sunday Evening Music Among Friends aims to cover the widest possible range of intimate classics, from solo piano recitals to lieder chamber opera, from baroque to the present day via the huge repertoire of mainstream chamber music for all manner of instrumental combinations. We like the unusual as much as the usual; as well as a concert performance in costume of Handel's 'Acis and Galatea' and Rachmaninov's Preludes, we recently enjoyed Dittersdorf's Sinfonia Concertante for viola and double bass (a party piece of Philharmonia Principal Bass Neil Tarlton and his wife Gill), and Mendelssohn's String Octet in a spectacular arrangement for ten wind instruments! 
We like to present our audiences with contrast and variety, and programmes of modest length carefully devised for maximum enjoyment and appeal. 'Nothing too heavy' has always been our motto, but even so it's no surprise that the great masterpieces predominate, and you're quite likely to enjoy Schoenberg and Webern alongside Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. The atmosphere is informal and relaxed, something the musicians especially appreciate.
 
                                                                                                                       Distinguished clarinettist Sarah Thurlow in Schobert's Octet

                   The Hammig Quartet plays Shostakovich
Chamber Music is still a much misunderstood term, a genre which many people avoid for being elitist or “intellectual”.  It’s no such thing! Haydn quartets are nothing if not fun, both to play and to hear, and pieces like Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, the sixteen year old Mendelssohn's Octet or Schubert's Winterreise are among the most ravishingly beautiful masterpieces of Western art.
  But it's there for all music lovers, not just connoisseurs. And if 'Chamber Music' really just means music performed by a small group of players, then what else is jazz or pop but chamber music?!

We are grateful to the management of the Colour House for providing the perfect environment for intimate music. Sunday Evening Music Among Friends is very much a venue-specific series, something we share with the Proms - now there's a thought!