A first love immortalised in music

A piece of music that the Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich wrote for his first love when he was only 16 will be one of the highlights of an afternoon concert that Three Rivers Music Society is to hold in Rickmansworth on Friday, September 15.

The astonishingly precocious Shostakovich entered St Petersburg’s leading music school when he was only 13 but his studies were interrupted by tuberculosis three years later and he was forced to convalesce in a Crimean sanatorium. It was there that he met Tatyana Glivenko, the girl to whom he dedicated his Piano Trio No.1 after completing the work on his return to St Petersburg in 1923.

The concert will be given by a trio who are popular with the music society’s audience -- pianist and composer David Halls, director of music at Salisbury Cathedral, his cellist brother Steven, and violinist Daphne Moody.

Their programme will also feature a set of three charming miniature compositions by Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten’s teacher, and a fourth miniature that David Halls recently wrote as a tribute to Bridge. This will be the first-ever public performance of this new work.

The other works on the concert programme will be by Felix Mendelssohn (Piano Trio No.2 in C minor) and the 17th-century Italian violinist Arcangelo Corelli (Sonata in D minor).

The concert will be held in Rickmansworth Baptist Church, High Street WD3 1EH. It will begin at 1pm and will last two hours. Tickets £16 at the door, including free concert programme and refreshments. Reduced prices for TRMS members and online booking. Free entry to under-25s. Further information: trms.uk

Pictured (l. to r.): Daphne Moody, David Halls and Steven Halls

For more information visit http://trms.uk/