Charlotte Bowden (soprano), Robert Plane (clarinet) and Benjamin Frith (piano)

The combination of soprano, clarinet and piano seems to bring out pastoral tendencies in composers! This programme incorporates depictions of shepherds, and their Romantic place in the natural world, by Arnold Cooke and Mayerbeer, before concluding with Schubert’s masterpiece of the genre, ‘Shepherd on the Rock’. The first half of the recital focuses on English repertoire, Stanford’s Three Intermezzi acting as an overture to haunting works by two of his illustrious students, Vaughan Williams and Holst. The second half explores Lieder, in particular the deeply moving Six German Songs by Louis Spohr, ripe with longing and regret.