This is the 5th concert of the Oxford Chamber Music Society [https://oxfordchambermusic.org]'s 2025-2026 season. Click here [https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/oxford-chamber-music-society] for details of the full season.

Trio Meister Raro was formed in 2022 by Robert Plane, Rachel Roberts, and Tim Horton. The trio grew out of their long-standing musical collaboration through Ensemble 360. The name Meister Raro is drawn from one of Robert Schumanns alter egos, reflecting the trios thoughtful and attentive approach to collaborative music-making.

Clarinettist Robert Plane has an extensive career as a soloist and chamber musician. Since winning the Royal Over-Seas League Gold Medal, he has performed widely in the UK and internationally. In a distinguished orchestral career, he has performed as guest principal clarinet with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Rachel Roberts is an internationally recognised violist, appearing regularly at major venues including Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw and the Musikverein. She is Professor of Viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has received multiple Diapason dOr awards for her recordings. Tim Horton is a pianist known for his wide-ranging chamber music work. A founder member of the Leonore Piano Trio, he performs regularly across the UK and abroad and collaborates with many leading chamber musicians including Paul Lewis, Imogen Cooper, Alasdair Beatson, and Adrian Brendel.

Their work as a trio focuses on the distinctive repertoire for clarinet, viola and piano, combining well-known works with less frequently performed music written for this instrumentation. The ensemble is dedicated to thoughtful, finely balanced interpretations, with particular attention to clarity of structure, close ensemble communication, and the dialogue between instruments that lies at the heart of chamber music. Their performances aim to illuminate both the architectural strength and expressive detail of each work, presenting chamber music as an active and collaborative exchange.

Much of the ensembles repertoire focuses on storytelling and fantasy, and this narrative element is reflected in todays programme Fantasie and Fairytales. The opening work, Debussys enchanted reverie or dream Rhapsodie, leads us into a romantic Phantasy by York Bowen before the picturesque Mrchenerzhlungen (Fairy tales) of Robert Schumann. The second half of the concert begins with a piece by Huw Watkins inspired by a poem of Dylan Thomas that evokes the changing nature of water as it ebbs and flows, crashes and sighs. This is followed by another poetic inspiration this time, Poes Fairyland a magical phantasy composed by Jospeh Holbrooke. Mozarts Trio K.498, described by Einstein as a work of intimate friendship and love and that concludes with a rondo that sings from beginning to end is a fitting finale to this afternoons concert of dreams, rhapsodies, and fairytales.

Robert Plane (clarinet), Rachel Roberts (viola), Tim Horton (piano)

Programme

Claude Debussy: Premire Rhapsodie
Edwin York Bowen: Phantasie, op. 54
Robert Schumann: Mrchenerzhlungen, op. 132

---- Interval ----

Huw Watkins: Speak Seven Seas
Joseph Holbrooke: Nocturne, op. 57, no. 1, Fairyland
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E flat major, K. 498, Kegelstatt

Photos: Andrei Luca