Candlelight in East Grinstead

Ensemble Reza was thrilled to return for the second time to the beautiful church of St Swithun’s in East Grinstead on Saturday evening. The church was bathed in a glow of candlelight and the concert opened with Rossini’s glorious String Sonata No 3 in C major, which, astonishingly was composed when he was just 12 years old.

The quartet then expanded to seven players to perform Strauss’ Metamorphosen, which is a reflection of the destruction of Germany’s culture during WWII. The ‘river of sound’ features five themes, including two quotes from Beethoven, culminating with the Eroica symphony.

After some welcome libation in the interval, Reza entertained us with Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in the second half - always enormously popular with audiences, including this one.