Classical Wednesdays : Kinu Clarinet Trio

Home Stage is proud to present, as part of the Classical Wednesday’s series, the Kinu Clarinet Trio. This up and coming young trio, currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, will be performing two of the major pieces for clarinet trio - that is clarinet, violin and piano - plus two amazing works for solo clarinet.

The trio by Aram Khachaturian is a tour-de-force; an exciting three-movement work, full of folksy Eastern European soundscapes. The composer creates a fantastic variety of sounds via the complex interplay of the three instruments, giving the whole piece an almost improvisatory feel.

By contrast Stravinsky’s suite for clarinet trio, L’Histoire du Soldat, which he arranged from the larger original piece, condenses the complex story of a soldier’s relationship with both his beloved violin and the devil - two items so often closely linked in myth and music! - into five pithy movements written in a rhythmic style typical of the composer. This is a different sort of complexity to the Khachaturian, but equally fascinating.

Der Kleine Harlekin by Stockhausen will be - certainly for those who have never seen it performed - something completely new and unusual. Stockhausen’s perhaps difficult and complex musical language is here tempered through the use of choreography - some specified and some improvised by the performer - producing a visually remarkable performance piece. A virtuosic showpiece for any clarinettist!