Concerts at Hatchlands Park: Rachel Brown and Laurence Cummings

PROGRAMME
George Frideric Handel (1770-1827)
Sonata in A minor, HWV 374
Adagio; Allegro; Adagio; Allegro

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata in C major, BWV 1033
Andante – Presto; Allegro; Adagio; Menuet I Menuet II

Handel
Sonata in E minor, HWV 375
Adagio; Allegro; Grave; Minuet

Bach
Sonata in E-flat major, BWV 1031
Allegro moderato; Siciliana; Allegro

Handel
Sonata in B minor, HWV 376
Adagio; Allegro; Largo; Allegro

Bach
Sonata in G minor, BWV 1020
Allegro; Adagio; Allegro

This recording was sponsored by Blavatnik Family Foundation.
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THE INSTRUMENT
Laurence is performing on the harpsichord by Jacob & Abraham Kirkman, London, 1781.
Kirkman’s instruments were highly thought of; indeed, George III offered the maker a Ruckers harpsichord in return for a double manual instrument for Queen Charlotte (that Ruckers is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum). In 1772 Jacob was joined by his nephew, Abraham, who eventually succeeded him and took this distinguished name into the age of pianofortes. This single manual harpsichord is inscribed on a boxwood plaque inset into the walnut veneered name batten: Jacobus et Abraham Kirckman Londini Fecerunt 1781. The four highly unusual drawers incorporated in the stand are integral to the original instrument.

PERFORMERS
Rachel Brown is best known for her eloquent and virtuosic performances on a huge range of flutes and recorders, she has appeared as a soloist in Europe, Japan and North and South America with a concerto repertoire from J.S. Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann to Mozart. Her championing of the works of the Berlin School has reawakened interest in the largely unknown masterpieces by Quantz and her recording of the CPE Bach D minor concerto was voted best by Polish radio. She has recorded Bach’s B minor Suite twice, with the Brandenburg Consort and the Academy of Ancient Music and three discs of Handel’s chamber music with the London Handel Players. Her recording of Bach Flute Sonatas has been well received. Arias with Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Players and Mozart Flute Quartets with the Revolutionary Drawing Room are soon to be followed by a disc of Vivaldi Concertos & Arias.
A dedicated teacher, Rachel has given masterclasses worldwide. She is currently professor of historical flute at the Royal College of Music. She is author of the Cambridge University Press handbook, The Early Flute, a practical guide and has composed cadenzas for the new Bärenreiter edition of the Mozart Flute Concertos. A practice manual for the baroque flute is in preparation alongside a book on baroque dance for musicians, which is the fruit of her extensive collaboration with dancer Mary Collins.

Laurence Cummings is one of Britain’s most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as a conductor and a harpsichord player.
Equally at home on the concert platform, Laurence is regularly invited to conduct both period and modern instrument orchestras worldwide, including Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The English Concert, Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Croatian Baroque Orchestra, La Scintilla Zurich, Juilliard 415, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony and in the UK with Royal Northern Sinfonia, Hallé Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Laurence’s recordings include discs with Emma Kirkby and Royal Academy of Music on BIS, Angelika Kirschlager and the Basel Chamber Orchestra for Sony BMG, Maurice Steger and The English Concert for Harmonia Mundi and Ruby Hughes and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on Chandos, as well as a series of live opera and concert performances recorded at the Göttingen International Handel Festival and released on Accent. He has also released numerous solo harpsichord recital and chamber music recordings for Naxos.
An organ scholar at Christ Church Oxford, Laurence graduated with first class honours. Until 2012 he was Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music which led to both baroque and classical orchestras forming part of the established curriculum. He is now the William Crotch Professor of Historical Performance.

THE COLLECTION
The Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands possesses the world’s largest group of keyboards owned by or associated with the masters of music in the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, including instruments that belonged to or were played by Purcell, J C Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Bizet, Chopin, Liszt, Mahler and Elgar.