Author archive: Nick Breckenfield

You never know, two years out when formulating a celebratory weekend, what the weather might hold for you.  Choosing June – the dates originally determined by availability of Wigmore Hall for a whole weekend – might put the odds in our favour for good weather, but it is Britain we’re talking about, with its famously […]

Read more about Verified in Peckham: BBT20 Day 1

In May of 2020 –– yes! Month 2 of pandemic lockdown! –– I received a wonderful message of introduction from Trio Sōra.  Me, a Canadian composer of a certain age based in Ottawa, and them, a young and dynamic piano trio based in Paris!   They had just been awarded the very prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, […]

Read more about From There to Here
The Long and Winding Road

In an article written for The Arts Desk, reprinted here with permission, Judith van Driel, first violinist of the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam writes on approaching the elusive and unreachable in four chamber masterpieces as Rubicon Classics releases Brahms String Quartets and his Second String Sextet In every life there are moments of great significance. Experiences […]

Read more about Brahms and Freedom

As part of its focus on Brahms Third String Quartet, originally scheduled for the ‘lost’ 20-21 season, the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam commissioned Dutch writer Jan Brokken for an essay on the work.  Reprinted here with permission and downloadable in both Dutch and English, Brokken’s essay is illustrated with images from the Quartet’s complete recording of […]

Read more about BRAHMS III

Most films or TV programmes betray the time of their making in some way. Sometimes, it’s an obvious stylistic tick. Sometimes it will be a cultural quality unrecognised at the time, and sometimes it will be the constraints or opportunities of technology. Watch any TV archive footage or old movie and the clues are hard […]

Read more about #BBTathomeforawhile
To Be or Not To Be… There !

Some five months on since my last concert I now find myself once again waiting in anticipation to go out onto the stage. Sweat is forming on my palms, my heart is pounding in my chest, cello in my hand but this time there is the unfamiliar addition of a face mask in solidarity of […]

Read more about #BBTathomeforawhile –
Nobody Dares to Cough!