Kino-Teatr, St Leonards, 1 May 2019

The second event brought us to the Kino-Teatr and a chamber music recital of works by female composers. The concept of change was more elusive here though as with the previous evening it was the structure of the pieces rather than the content which drew attention to itself. Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio gives the weight of the melodic development to the piano and violin, often leaving the cello as a bass line support, whereas Lili Boulanger’s two piano trios actually open with the cello and seem better balanced. Their acerbic writing, after the earlier romanticism, was also challenging and engaging.

The evening had opened with a sonata for violin and piano by Clara Schumann, followed by her Sechs lieder Op13. Counter-tenor Alex Pullinger seemed an unusual choice for this song cycle – his voice is closer to a genuine male soprano than many counter-tenors – and rises to the top register with ease. He seemed rather more at home with Rebecca Clarke’s songs, which sit comfortably in the late romantic world of Vaughn Williams and Finzi.

The performers were all familiar to Hastings Philharmonic, with HIPCC winner Roman Kosyakov at the piano, Angela Jung, violin, and Will Robertson, cello.

Though there was no problem with the performance, the audience were left very much in the dark as to what was actually about to happen. The single programme sheet simply listed generic works and composers, with no indication of their actual titles or number of movements. As a result we had no idea when a work was completed and had to wait until the soloists turned to us and smiled to show it was over! Given the intimacy of the venue, it might have been easier for the soloists to at least tell us what they were about to play and, where the song cycles were concerned, how many songs we were to hear. A small matter but one which could so easily have been attended to.