with Pavlova Winds and Cotswold String Ensemble

Coleridge-Taylors’ Nonet in F minor, Op. 2, was written in 1894. It is scored for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano. Its first performance (and apparently the only one until very recent times) was on a student concert at the Royal College of Music on July 5, 1894.

The Nonet is in four large movements, and its scoring makes it almost orchestral in sound. The influence of Dvořák, whom Coleridge-Taylor admired greatly, is evident in the opening theme of the first movement; nevertheless, there is much individuality of style throughout the entire work. The slow movement is characterized by florid lines and a truly masterful second theme. Listeners will have to decide for themselves whether Grove’s criticism of this movement holds true. The duple-meter Scherzo has been aptly described by Geoffrey Self (The Hiawatha Man, 1995) as “goblinesque,” with its minor key and pervasive pizzicato in the strings, but it also contains a lyrical trio. The final movement does not adopt a conventional “finale” character—neither light and playful, nor heroic—but rather, with its major key and rousing spirit, conveys a sense of easy, unexaggerated confidence.

Spohr’s nonet of 1813 is the first nonet written for this particular combination of instruments and making conscious use of the distinctive qualities and idiosyncrasies of each. For all its classical structural characteristics and the unity of expression that Spohr creates with his first pervasive theme, the nonet takes the listener on an unfamiliar journey as each new phrase introduces a different palette. Perhaps it is above all in his masterful mixing and revealing of all the colours of the musical rainbow that Spohr’s originality and inspiration are strongly to be felt.