Emma Johnson and Gregory Drott
- Main Information
A celebration of the clarinet
This first concert of the Hexham and District Music Society’s 75th-anniversary season brings the great clarinettist Emma Johnson to the Queen’s Hall.
One of the most famous names in British classical music, Emma is joined this evening by pianist Gregory Drott for a programme showcasing the great versatility and range of the solo clarinet.
The programme opens with Mozart’s famous Clarinet Quintet, a desert-island piece for music lovers the world over, heard here in its arrangement for clarinet and piano as the Grande Sonata.
In contrast, Weber’s ebullient and virtuosic Grand Duo Concertant of 1816 displays the instrument at its most brilliant.
The programme then moves into the 20th century with music by the French composer Francis Poulenc and George Gershwin’s tribute to another great clarinettist, Benny Goodman. It also includes Emma Johnson’s own Scottish Fantasy for clarinet and piano.
Programme
Mozart - Grande Sonata, K581a (arrangement of Clarinet Quintet, K581)
Weber - Grand Duo Concertant in E flat major, op. 48
Poulenc - Clarinet Sonata, op. 184
Emma Johnson - Scottish Fantasy
Gershwin (arr. Johnson/Lenehan) - Tribute to Benny Goodman
Photo credit: Frances Marshall (Emma Johnson)
Ukrainian Folk Melody – accompanied by Gregory Drott
An exhilarating performance of Gershwin’s ‘I Got Rhythm’ with John Lenehan
“She really is an incredible player.”
“Emma Johnson’s (…) impeccable technique.”
Very talented accompanist Gregory Drott on piano [whose] playing greatly enhanced the whole experience.”
