King's Lynn Festival: Amidst the Sound of Clashing Steel

Inspired by Janacek’s own words about his violin sonata; "...in the 1914 Sonata for violin and piano I could just about hear sound of the steel clashing in my troubled head…" this programme, as part of King's Lynn Festival, explores composers' different responses to everything going on in the world in the second decade of the 20th century.

Following Brahms’ pastoral second violin sonata this programme is a journey through the colourful and contrasting musical languages of Janacek, Lili Boulanger and Elgar which were all written in the turbulent years of 1914-1919. While not all composers wrote directly in response to world events, both Janacek and Elgar lived out their musings, frustrations and eventual acceptance through their violin sonatas. Lady Elgar even noted of her husband’s violin sonata that the second movement seemed to be influenced by the mythical dancing nymphs and ‘wood magic’ of the nearby Fittleworth woods they often walked in together.