Keep up to date with all our latest news and announcements regarding our Music Archive. You'll find our full listing of music and videos from our West Cork Chamber Music & Literary Festivals here.
Festival Memories 10
In retrospect it may have been tempting fate to conclude our 24th Festival with Messiaen’s extraordinary quartet that announces the End of Time. Last summer’s Bantry performance featured violinist Henning Kraggerud who never fails to astonish with his musicianship, the brilliant young cellist Laura van der Heijden mature beyond her years, the remarkable Slovenian clarinettist Mate Bekavac and a favourite Bantry pianist Alexei Grynyuk.
Festival Memories 9
Hear this profound performance of Schubert’s last Sonata by Finghin Collins from his late-night concert on 30 June last year. This stupendous sonata is Schubert’s valediction, an epic work with its noble, unhurried melodies that defy time, his last miraculous song magnificently played for you by one of our own.
Festival Memories 8
The piano trio repertoire does not have the same dazzling range and scope as the string quartet, but it has a few jewels headed by Beethoven’s Archduke, featured in this series on 16 April, and amongst many others, Dvořák’s so-called ‘Dumky’.
Looking Forward & Back
This week's choice is the staggering late night performance by Dénes Várjon of Beethoven’s majestic Hammerklavier Sonata. Beethoven designed this gigantic Sonata to be grander, more elaborate and more imposing than any previous sonata bar none.
Festival Memories 6
The early days of last year’s Festival saw an exploration of the natural but rare pairing of Beethoven’s early Opus 18 Quartets with Mozart’s mature set that he dedicated so fulsomely to his mentor Haydn.