Chamber Music

Jenny is an enthusiastic chamber music player working with various ensembles. She plays music for violin and harp with Frances Mason, for flute and harp with various flautists including Clare Mellor, Rachel Smith (www.rachelsmithflute.co.uk) and Gabrielle Byam-Grounds (www.englishserenata.com), for flute, viola and harp with Trio Sospiroso (www.triosospiroso.com) and the Hilser Ensemble and for miscellaneous combinations with West Forest Sinfonia (www.westforestsinfonia.org).

Frances Mason, violin,
and Jenny Broome, harp.

Frances and Jenny met when they were both invited to perform for a charity concert in Old Heathfield, Sussex where they discovered a mutual interest in the music of Spohr for violin and harp. Subsequently they have appeared twice at the Buckingham Festival for which they were delighted to commission Edward Lambert’s piece Speed Matters. They are now working towards a recording of Spohr’s violin and harp repertoire as originally conceived with the instruments tuned a semitone apart and using the harp as a transposing instrument. In their recitals Frances and Jenny combine Spohr’s music with original compositions and arrangements from all ages.

Frances Mason was born in Hampshire and was taught as a child by Albert Sammons. She was a scholar at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded the Violin Prize, the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal and the Tagore Gold Medal. She was a prizewinner in the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition and the BBC Violin Competition and received the National Federation of Music Societies’ Award for Young Musicians. Frances has appeared as soloist at several BBC Proms and broadcast as a soloist many times. She has also broadcast and performed most of the repertoire for violin and piano and has always been involved performing, recording and teaching chamber music with the Music Group of London, the Tagore String Trio, the Rasumovsky Quartet, the Beethoven Broadwood Trio and the Dartington Trio. She has been a Professor at the Royal College of Music since 1971.

Repertoire for violin and harp:

Bax	Cavatina
Boieldieu	Sonata
Corelli	La Follia
Damase	Sonata
Donizetti	Sonata
Gorb	Liebeslied
Handel	Sonatas	X
Kreisler	Alt-Wiener Tansweisen
Lambert	Speed Matters
Lewis	Rhapsody
Marin	Duo Op 8
Marson	Excursions
Mendelssohn	Songs without words
Naderman	Sonata Op 47 no 1
Natra	Music for Violin and Harp
Paganini	Six Sonatas
Rossini	Andante con variazione
Saint-Saens	Fantaisie Op 124	X
Spohr	Sonata Concertante Op 113
Spohr	Sonata Concertante Op 114
Spohr	Sonata Concertante Op 115
Spohr	Fantasie Op 118	X
Spohr	Sonata Op 16
Spohr	Sonata C minor
Stravinsky	Chanson Russe
Vaughan Williams	Studies in English Folksong
Vaughan Williams	The Lark Ascending
Viotti	Sonata
J. Williams	Themes from Schindler’s List

‘Much appreciated…the audience were delighted with the concert which I myself enjoyed tremendously’ Buckingham Festival Committee

‘Frances Mason, évidemment très sollicité, fait valoir un style plein d’élégance et une sonorité bien charnue.’ Répertoire [“Frances Mason, clearly very persuasive, presents a style full of elegance and a full-bodied tone."]

‘The work could not have had a more persuasive soloist than Frances Mason whose graduation of tone colour and sensitive phrasing enhanced her reputation as an outstanding interpreter of 20C music.’ ( V Irkanda IV Sculthorpe.) Glasgow Herald.

‘Frances Mason played with wonderful intensity and beauty of tone.’ Guardian

‘Frances Mason is a violinist whose notes were as pure as silk against the orchestral texture. Most of all it was the cadenzas that revealed her talent,there was no hint of roughness nor of mere exhibitionism but a smooth flow of sound that effectively concealed the difficulties with which they abound.’ (Beethoven Concerto) Scotsman.

Sample Programmes A B C

A : Early Nineteenth Century
Donizetti	Sonata
Viotti	Sonata in B flat
Marin	Duo Op 8
Parish-Alvars	(solo harp)
Mendelssohn	Songs without words
Paganini	Sonata
Spohr	Sonata
Rossini	Andante con variazione

B :
Corelli	La Follia
Spohr	Sonata
Mendelssohn	Songs without words
Bax	Cavatina
Stravinsky	Chanson Russe
Saint-Saens	Fantaisie
Marson	Excursions

C :
Boieldieu	Sonata
Bach	extract from Sonatas and partitas (solo violin)
Glinka	Variations on a theme of Mozart (solo harp)
Spohr	Sonata
Damase	Sonata
Vaughan Williams	Lark Ascending
Lambert	Speed Matters
J Williams	Schindler’s List

Trio Sospiroso

Trio Sospiroso (www.triosospiroso.com) have been working together for many years, performing all the major repertoire for flute, viola and harp. They have played at Grimsby St Hugh’s Festival, Hungerford Festival, Pangbourne College Arts Society, Didcot Festival, South Hill Park, Bracknell, Winchester Cathedral, Chichester Music on Sundays and at Marlborough Festival. The members of the trio are Clare Mellor, flute, Sue Black, viola and Jenny Broome, harp.

Repertoire for flute, viola and harp trio:

Alexander	Orange & Aureolin on Blue
Bach	Sonatas in G minor and E flat major
Bax	Elegiac Trio
Beamish	Between Earth and Sky
Beethoven/Maayami	Serenade Op 25
RR Bennett	Sonata after Syrinx
Bizet	Minuet (L’Arlésienne)
Steve Crowther	Shadow’s Dancing
Nathan Currier	A Sambuca Sonata
Debussy	Sonate
	Four Preludes
	Children’s Corner Suite
Paul Lewis	Divertimento
Jolivet	Petite Suite
Elizabeth Poston	Trio
Rawsthorne	Suite
Ravel/Salzedo	Sonatine en Trio
David Snell	Lyric Sonata
Tocchi	Arie e danze tedesche
Edward Watson	Aegean Dances	X

‘Excellent ensemble always prevailed, and there was a marked feeling for style. Close empathy with great care for detail coupled to graceful execution, resulted in an extremely satisfying account.’

‘The achievement of the players and the success of the evening can be judged by the fact that what was perhaps the most familiar piece (‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’) sounded as if it was written precisely for this combination.’ Debussy Preludes

‘…it has clearly become a favourite and they revelled in its wild and syncopated rhythms, delighting both themselves and the audience.’ Watson Aegean Dances

Sample Programmes A B C

A :
Bach	Sonata for Flute
Beethoven arr Maayami	Serenade Op 25
Fauré	Sicilienne
Debussy arr Salzedo	Childrens’ Corner Suite
Watson	Aegean Dances

B :
Bach	Sonata for Flute
Bax	Elegiac Trio
Poston	Trio
Debussy	Sonate
Ravel arr Salzedo	Sonatine en Trio

C :
Debussy	Syrinx
RR Bennett	Sonata after Syrinx
Debussy	Sonate
Debussy	Preludes
Beamish	Between Earth and Sea
Ravel	Sonatine en Trio

Flute and Harp

Jenny has given flute and harp recitals at various venues including Brighton Festival Fringe and, with Rachel Smith (www.rachelsmithflute.co.uk), has recorded music by Paul Lewis and Hamilton Harty for Cameo (Summer was in August www.dimusic.co.uk)

Repertoire for flute and harp:

Alwyn	Naiades
Bach	Sonatas in E flat and G minor
Bax	Sonata
Damase	Sonatas 1 and 2
Debussy	Preludes
Francaix	Cinque Piccoli Duetti
Hilse	Suite
Harty	In Ireland	X
Ibert	Entr’acte
Lauber	Quatre Danses Médiévales
Paul Lewis	Norfolk Idyll	X
Marson	Suite
Maxwell Davies	Two Dances from Caroline Mathilde
Mozart	Andante
Piazzolla	Histoire du Tango
Ravel	Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
Saint-Saens	Romance Op 37
Watson	La Fontaine aux Dauphins

‘This is a very good CD. The playing is faultless’ (Summer was in August) John France

Sample Programme

Harty	In Ireland
Alwyn	Naiades
Caplet	Divertissement à l’Espagnole
Piazzolla	Histoire du Tango

Other Combinations

Jenny is a member of West Forest Sinfonia (www.westforestsinfonia.org) and has performed with them on several occasions when it is possible to explore repertoire for other combinations. With the Hilser Ensemble Jenny has played chamber music in London, Lewes and Bramber. She has also played with members of the Philharmonia and with English Serenata (www.englishserenata.com).

Repertoire for other combinations:

Bax	Sonata for Viola and Harp
	Quintet for Harp and Strings
Berlioz	Trio from The Childhood of Christ
Caplet	Conte Fantastique (harp and string quartet)
ETA Hoffman	Quintet (harp and string quartet)
Ibert	Two Interludes (fl, vln, hp)
	Trio (vln, cello and harp)
Lambert	Concerto Cubico (trombone, marimba and harp)
Mozart	Adagio and Rondo for Glass Harmonica
Pierné	Voyage au pays du tendre (fl, vln, vla, cello, hp)
Ravel	Introduction and Allegro
Paul Reade	The Kitchen Garden Suite (clarinet and harp)
Ropartz	Prelude, Marine et Chansons (fl, vln, vla, cello, hp)
Roussel	Serenade (fl, vln, vla, cello, hp)
Tippett	Dreaming (viola and harp)
Vaughan Williams	Studies in English Folksong (violin, viola, cello or clarinet)

‘The harp sparkled….ethereal was a word I heard bandied about’ (Hilser Ensemble)

‘The trio made light of a series of ever faster rhythmic complexities, finally bringing the piece to a brilliant ending’ (Concerto Cubico)

‘Next on the horizon was the harp, in the hands of Jenny Broome…driven by her immense experience and professionalism…the harp was truly orchestral’ (Concerto Cubico)

Chamber Music

Frances Mason, violin,and Jenny Broome, harp.

Trio Sospiroso

Flute and Harp

Other Combinations

Frances Mason, violin,
and Jenny Broome, harp.