By REBECCA DIXON

Last updated 13:11, Thursday, 13 November 2008

THE Frith Piano Quartet returns to Hexham next week with a programme of rarely performed classics.

The concert, part of Hexham and District Music Society’s season, will include pieces by Mozart, Walton and Weber.

The musicians will play the second of Mozart’s two quartets, Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, followed by an early piece by Walton.

The piece, which won him the Carnegie Prize, dates back to Walton’s Oxford days and shows the influence of such composers as Stravinsky and Faure.

The piano quartet by Weber is the finale for the evening.

Best known as a prolific writer of operas, Weber also wrote a lot of piano music and was a fine pianist himself. The Frith Quartet’s choice demonstrates one of Weber’s few forays into chamber music.

Leading the quartet, pianist Ben Frith has set a high standard for himself after performing the keyboard version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for Fiesta in Corbridge last season.

Joining him will be string players Robert Heard (deputy leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra), Louise Williams (viola player for the Chilingirian Quartet) and Richard Jenkinson (principal cellist for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra).

The concert takes place on Wednesday, November 19 at the Queen’s Hall, Hexham.