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Classical Music - The
Chicago-Sussex Quintet
In 1940 Boston’s marvellous concert venue The Edward
Hatch Memorial Shell was built. The designers chose to adorn
the Hatch Shell with the names of who they considered to be
the 86 most important classical composers in history. There
was not a woman among them. In July 2000, the Boston Pops
(annual proms-type concert) paid tribute to a woman whose
oeuvre was coming back into fashion nearly fifty years after
her death. Her name is Amy Beach, and in her lifetime she
was considered to be every bit as brilliant as her European
contemporaries Chopin, Mendelssohn and Brahms. To commemorate
her work, Beach’s name was engraved into the granite
wall of the Hatch Centre. Yet her oeuvre is hardly known this
side of the Atlantic.
The Chicago-Sussex piano quintet has been formed to celebrate
the arrival in Lewes of three brilliant musicians from the
States, Paganini-prize winning violinist Elaine Skorodin,
viola-playing Sally Didrickson and cellist Julie Bevan. They
are joined by locals Cynthia Eraut (violin) and Jon Walker
(piano), who normally play together in the Konstanza Piano
Quartet. Tonight this ensemble are playing Beethoven’s
Rondeau, and Elgar’s Piano Quintet. They are also playing
Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet, in tribute to one of America’s
greatest composers. Proceeds will go towards the desperately
needed repairs to St Anne’s Church’s Norman tower.
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