Chineke! Chamber Ensemble - Edinburgh International Festival: Chamber Music Highlights 2021 - Edinburgh Guide

Like Vaughan Williams, Samuel Coleridge Taylor was a pupil of Charles Stanford. But the similarity between the two composers for today’s concert was the overarching influence of Brahms – the harmonies evident in Vaughan Williams aforementioned Allegro being a case in point. Here in the Nonet, written for four strings, four winds and piano, we also see pervading evidence of Brahms in the musical style and texture. In itself, what stuck with you above all from the Nonet was the melody for the clarinet in the first movement, which was simply divine. One of the things that made this performance really stand out was the uninhibited joy and passion with which the musicians played - and this was conveyed.