One of Britten's early chamber works is set for its first performance in more than 80 years. The Aronowitz Ensemble will perform the Bagatelle for violin, viola and piano in their programme at The Forge in London on 17 April, alongside a selection of little-known miniatures including an Arabian Dance for piano quartet by Richard Strauss.

Britten was 16 when he wrote the Bagatelle. It is among the highlights of his vast unpublished juvenilia – he composed around 750 works prior to his official op.1, the Sinfonietta, in 1932. The Aronowitz Ensemble's pianist, Tom Poster, described the Bagatelle as 'a very striking work in which the composer is clearly already developing his own distinctive voice'.

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