THIS year’s Purbeck Chamber Music Festival offers a rare opportunity to hear Schönberg’s ‘Verklärte Nacht’ played in concert.

This passionate and evocative piece was written quickly in 1899 when Schönberg had fallen deeply in love with the woman he would eventually marry.

It is reminiscent of Richard Strauss and Wagner in its harmonic colour and stretches classical tonality to its uttermost.

The music festival begins on August 29 and runs until August 31.

Natalie Clein, the festival’s artistic director, said: “I am very excited to be presenting the third edition of the Purbeck Chamber Music Festival.

“Music begins where words end but before and after both come silence.

“The silence in Purbeck is so specific and I cannot think of a more beautiful canvas.”

The programmes over four concerts are not directly linked, but she hopes they set out to create something new, and at the same time to include great masterpieces of the solo and chamber music repertoire.

Tickets are going very fast for all four concerts – so book your tickets now to prevent disappointment!

For details about this concert and the other three concerts - which include music by Elgar, Beamish, Ligeti, JS Bach (sold out), Mozart and Bloch - see purbeck-chambermusic.org.uk.

Tickets are available from purbeckartweeks.co.uk and Swanage and Wareham Tourist Information Centres.