Braving the Stave

JJ interviews Christiana Mavron ahead of the Mavron Quartet's performance in the Arts Active Lunchtime Concert Series, on 3rd June 2025.

Cardiff Classical Lunchtime Recitals: The Mavron Quartet - Arts Active

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Jon and Haz find out why it's best not to say 'neoclassicism' in a hurry before plunging into beautiful reinventions of the past. Along the way, Haz makes the connection between Stravinsky and sweating and Jon discovers Couperin's 'Tic-Toc Choc'.

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JJ and Haz extol the virtues and versatility of the clarinet, from its humble folk beginnings through to its many shapes and sizes of today. Includes the instrument's nicknames, its use in classical and jazz and its resemblance to milk chocolate.

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The duo performing in an upcoming Cardiff Lunchtime series at Eglwys Dewi Sant talk with Jon about how they met, the background to their instruments and the thinking behind their innovative and beautifully considered programme.

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With the unusual pairing of a recorder and accordion coming up in a concert, Jon and Haz do a quick survey of other rarer concert instruments. In this 'musical zoo' are instruments that are both haunting and hooting, folk and electronic, and one that reminds Haz of a 'depressed Cor Anglais.' 

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Jon and Haz dip their toes into the ocean that is Roots Music, discussing its stereotypes and stigmas, its multiple instruments and crazy time signatures, and why pan pipes make for great massage music. Along the way, Jon talks about his own journey with the Dovetail Orchestra for asylum-seeking musicians, which has bases in both Bristol and Cardiff (at Eglwys Dewi Sant). 

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JJ and Haz see in the new year with a celebration of the string quartet, testing the claim that it is a 'four-way marriage without the sex'. Haz divulges her pet peeves as a chamber musician, as well as what a 'shig' is and why, amazingly, 'Bridgerton' is keeping the quartet genre alive and kicking.

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Christmas Cracker 2024

JJ and Haz bring on the 'hygge' with a homage to the wind quintet, bagatelles and boyfriends (Haz's), carols to cherish and avoid, 'disruptive' descants and a whole new genre of 'earnest kitsch'. Nadolig llawen, pawb!

Got any comments for JJ and Haz? Email them to [email protected]

Oes gennych chi unrhyw sylwadau i JJ a Haz? Anfonwch ebost i [email protected]

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When Jon likens harp music to twinkly bedtime stories, Haz champions the instrument, taking it beyond the usual clichés. Together they consider its Celtic history, how much patience you need to tune it, the most-loved harp effects, and why harpists are the best people to ask to unscrew a jar.

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JJ and Haz try to convert each other to the sound of the sax, celebrating its parps, growls and bends. Along the way: why Debussy called the sound 'aquatic', why it reminds JJ of custard, and what it means to be 'Careless Whispered' while at music college. 

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