In May, we were pleased to welcome back ‘Duo Armande’ featuring Claire Hawkes on clarinet and Shulah Oliver on violin and viola.
 
The focus for the concert was dance themes and they opened with a very lively piece entitled ‘Jeu’ from Suite Op.157b by Darius Milhaud.
 
Claire and Shulah played some familiar pieces: the Waltz from Sleeping Beauty and ‘Sarabande con Variazione’ by Halvorsen which was used as the theme music to Levi jeans advertisements, as well as introducing some less well known pieces. I particularly enjoyed tango music by Carlos Gardel and Isaac Albeniz.
 
In between pieces, they also provided us with fascinating narratives with gave cultural context to the pieces and helped to bring the works alive.
 
As ever our thanks go to our generous hosts, Barbara and Andrew Sheard.

Jane Tilley