In Conversation with Carole Presland, Senior Tutor in Keyboard Chamber Music

Guildhall School's Summer Chamber Music Festival returns from 7-9 July with three days of events, bringing together over 100 musicians to perform a wide range of ensemble works - from duos to nonets - in celebration of some of the greatest chamber music ever written. 

We caught up with Carole Presland, Senior Tutor in Keyboard Chamber Music, to find out more about what we can expect from this weekend of inspiring performances and events. 

Please could you give us an overview of this year's Chamber Music Festival? 

It's a very exciting blend this year of some amazing, lesser-known works like the Enescu Octet, which is quite rarely performed because of the forces involved and the difficulty and magnitude of the piece. On the final night, we have a couple of British pieces: Frank Bridge's Fantasy for Piano Quartet and Elgar's Piano Quintet. It seemed very fitting in the Coronation year that we have some wonderful British chamber music masterpieces featured. We also have some standard repertoire greats – the Beethoven Piano and Wind Quintet and Dvořák’s String Quintet for two violas for example, plus works by some more contemporary composers such as Bryce Dessner and Eleanor Alberga. There are pieces for winds only, piano and winds, piano and strings, strings only, brass… there's something for everyone, it really is quite a potpourri of styles.

Matthew Jones (Head of Chamber Music), Ursula Smith (Senior Tutor in Strings Chamber Music), Joy Farrall (Senior Tutor in Wind, Brass & Percussion Chamber Music) and myself as Senior Tutor in Keyboard Chamber Music, have all played in the Festival every year since it started in 2018. We've tried, each year, to introduce audiences to slightly lesser-known works that hopefully catch their imagination, but we've also each dipped into more standard, popular pieces. So, I think it's been a great range for all of us over these last few years. 

Your performance of Elgar’s Piano Quintet is closing the festival this year. What are you looking forward to most about performing this piece?

I'm looking forward to it immensely! It's possibly my favourite piano quintet. It doesn't get played in the same way that Brahms, Schumann and Dvořák do; it has a very special music and emotional language, I think. And it's incredible writing for the strings – at times it's orchestral in its range, but equally it has the most amazing delicacy and fragility. To be working alongside such gifted students rather than coaching them in groups is always really fascinating and very inspiring. 

What's it like to perform in Milton Court Concert Hall? 

The acoustics are fantastic in there. It's got a very special sound and atmosphere, and wonderful instruments as well – we're so blessed to have great pianos over there, as well as the Hall itself. But, I think also over the weekend, as the concerts progress, the atmosphere develops and every concert starts to feel more collegiate and more supportive. There's such a lot of warmth from the Guildhall community, but also from the many people that come from outside the see all the fascinating pieces that are played. 

As well as a myriad of performances taking place throughout the weekend, the festival also offers a lecture and masterclass?

Yes, I think it's wonderful that Simon Blendis will be doing an illustrated on the Enescu Octet because it's quite a huge piece, and an unusual musical language. Simon is an expert on it and I understand he's worked on it a lot. The students are incredibly privileged to have this opportunity to play it alongside him, and other members of staff, in this festival. The piece took Enescu, I think, a year and a half to write, and he said that he found it incredibly difficult for eight strings - he likened it to somebody building their first suspension bridge across a huge river! I think the fact that Simon is doing a lecture on the piece will be incredibly helpful to audiences, especially if they don't know the piece at all. He'll be able to talk about the themes, the scoring and the language, and I think it will be really enlightening and inspiring for people to then go and hear the piece after he's spoken about it. There couldn't be anybody more expert to be illuminating the piece. 

And the masterclass will be fantastic. David Waterman has an extraordinary amount of expertise and wisdom, not just with the quartet repertoire, but also from playing with instruments of every sort in every combination. His masterclasses are always a fantastic exploration of the music itself, but also the skill and art of playing chamber music: gesture, articulation – he's always fascinating to listen to, as well as being very encouraging with the students. So even though I'm playing that evening, I'll certainly be putting my head in to go and listen to what he says, which is always invaluable. 

A key feature of the festival is that it features performances by groups made up of both students and staff. What benefits does this bring?

It's such a unique opportunity for the senior students to be able to play alongside their professors. Normally, they're being coached by them in groups, but that is such a different experience to actually sharing ideas with them in rehearsals and then performing alongside them. I think it stretches the students (and staff) and gives everybody a different kind of perspective, which often brings out the very best in all players. The process makes students grow in different ways, seeing how more experienced musicians work and organise their rehearsals, and feeling a new kind of performing energy when it comes to the actual concerts. So, we're very proud of the fact that we have developed this idea and really believe that it's a wonderful opportunity for senior students to learn from it.

Who or what have been the biggest inspirations in your career? 

There are so many incredible, world-renowned pianists and chamber ensembles who I could list here, that there would scarcely be enough space or time to name them all! So perhaps I won't try, and will instead talk more personally when answering this, about teachers. It goes without saying that a huge influence on me was my extraordinary piano professor Renna Kellaway, but in terms of Chamber Music, I undoubtedly owe a huge personal debt of gratitude to the late Dr Christopher Rowland – a member of the renowned Fitzwilliam String Quartet and also a distinguished Chamber Music coach and mentor. Chris was an inspiring and charismatic presence; a performer of great conviction and intensity, he approached his coaching with the same challenging, though-provoking and passionate mindset. I still vividly remember many of my coaching sessions with him as a student, and carry many of his thoughts and ideas with me when coaching myself. 

More recently the brilliant pianist, collaborator, composer, conductor and writer Ralf Gothóni has been an ongoing inspiration. We are extremely fortunate that he currently visits Guildhall School as a Chamber Music Professor twice a year; his pianistic, musical, intellectual and human knowledge and insights continue to be, quite simply, priceless.

What is your top tip for any budding chamber musicians? 

Get as much wide experience as possible. I think often younger students in particular, think that they need to be playing in a string quartet, or a piano trio, full stop. But actually, what they learn most from is exposure to lots of different kinds of musicians. Playing with wind players, singers, or with a mix – means that we learn so many different skills: breathing and a plethora of contrasting articulations from having to adapt lots of different types of ensemble, approaches and repertoire. There tends to be a desire to play the great pieces such as Beethoven and Brahms, and of course this is really important, but often I think we are most stretched by working with more unusual repertoire, playing music in disparate styles with all their contrasting demands and aspects.

So I think my top tip is to be open minded, accepting that all of us can learn so much from any kind of ensemble, and any kind of piece that we're involved in playing. We will be stretched intellectually, in terms of our instrumental ability to match and blend, and we will learn the ability to relate to many different kinds of musician. We can sometimes get into familiar, ongoing groups where working together is like putting on your favourite old jumper – you’re used to playing with those people, it feels comfortable. But working with new and different individuals brings out different skills in us all: in particular an ability to communicate quickly, to be empathetic with players around us, and to adapt very quickly to a new emotional and musical environment. And I think all of those demands, build us as musicians and make us more versatile and adaptable. Which is really what chamber music is about: the ability to communicate with and react to, all kinds of musicians in any combination around us, and to forge a like-minded narrative of any piece which others can hopefully understand and enjoy…

Guildhall School’s Chamber Music Festival takes from 7–9 July 2023. Most events are free, and ticketed concerts in Milton Court Concert Hall are £10 (£5 concessions) with a multi-buy option available. Find out more and book at gsmd.ac.uk/chamberfest