Author Archives: Admin

Magdalena Reising with the Blue Cafe Jazz

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Jazz Breakfast  St Mary in the Castle Sunday 15 April

With her sparkling personality and instant rapport with her audience, imported from Hibernia via her Polish parentage and now resident in this area Magdalena is truly multi-faceted, and her programme reflected this.

The combination of Magdalena’s harp with Steve Thompson’s double-bass and Terry Seabrook’s  keyboard under the title  Blue Cafe Jazz is intriguingly original. Certainly the solos of all three, integrated into the action, were much appreciated by an audience obviously in tune with the jazz idiom.

Magdalena’s professionalism based on intimate contact with her audience reached those at the rear of the auditorium as readily as those in the tables at the front. Beginning with a Polish melody Dzigo Roza, she demonstrated her expertise on the harp in her own compositions, changing to a set of familiar standards.  Terry and Steve were dominant in The Waiting Game, the trio closing the first half with a hit from The Sound of Music, My Favourite Things.

Openng the second half Magdelena gave the full treatment to the ballad The Nearness of You, the second chorus in jazzed-up format, leading into an up-tempo version of the  Al Jolson number Bye Bye Blackbird.  A harp solo was the wistful reminder of the Jacobite era Charlie is My Darling, the trio joining for My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose.  Terry at the keyboard sequed into Autumn Leaves, Steve joining for the second chorus, Magdalena following for The End of Love.

Magdalena bowed to the audience’s request for more with a sympathetic treatment of Edith Piaf’s signature La Vie en Rose, repeated in the English version Take me to You Heart Again.     
A greatly applauded first visit by this unique trio to St Marys with hopefully more to come.

The next Jazz Breakfast is on Sunday May 20, welcoming the return of vocalist Tina May.  Admission  £8, members £7. MW

Rye Wurlitzer

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 Rye College Sunday 22 April   Donald Mackenzie

Exchanging the Metropolitan aura of the organ of the Odeon Leicester Square for the blossoming spring of the Rye countryside, Donald Mackenzie opened his programme on Rye’s Wurlitzer with a selection from Broadway musicals, Cabaret, Hello Dolly, Everything’s Coming up Roses from Gipsy. Then came a whistle-stop tour of Western Europe with Tulips from Amsterdam,  Sous les Toits de Paris, Funicule Funicula, Anton Karas’s Harry Lime Theme,  Falling in love Again, ever associated with Marlene Dietrich, That’s Amore, and a foot-tapping selection of Strauss Waltzes ending topically with Voices of Spring.

Jack Strachey, famous for These Foolish Things, wrote other hits as well.  Donald chose In Party Time, remembered as the introduction to BBC’s Housewives’ Choice.   A selection of Gracie Fields’ favourites began with Sing as We Go, Sally, the comedy number I Took My Harp to a Party, Now is the Hour, The Isle of Capri, Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye, and ended with Everything Stops for Tea appropriately announcing the interval.

The second half opened from Eric Coates’s suite The Three Elizabeths,  the topical Springtime in Angus, and the third movement now termed Youth of Britain.  Jerome Kern contributed numbers from the scores of Showboat and the Astaire-Rogers  Swingtime,  Look for the Silver Lining,  Smoke gets in Your Eyes, Why Do I Love You,  Can’t Help Lovin’ that Man, Let Yourself Go, All the Things You Are and Ole Man River.

A request item was Highland Cathedral (not penned by a Scot but two German tunesmiths).  Donald ended with a reminder of the music of  Noel Gay, the public persona of Reginald Armitage, organist of Wakefield Cathedral, The Sun Has Got His Hat On (a Thirties film number for comedian Jack Hulbert but with renewed popularity in the West End revival of Me and My Girl,)  The Fleet’s in Port Again, Hey Little Hen, and most of all The Lambeth Walk.     MW

BF: Hagen Quartet at Glyndebourne

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Sunday 5 May 2012

It was difficult to believe that this was early May and that Glyndebourne’s opera season is only two weeks away. The rain may just have held off but the wind whistled and picnicking was out of the question even for the stoutest. A pity, for there have been a number of significant changes to the gardens for this season and the new sculpture deserve more than a scant view while rushing past.

Thankfully, inside the house, all was warm and comfortable for a recital by the Hagen Quartet. Seated on what was effectively a lid for the orchestra pit, the acoustic was remarkably effective even in very quiet passages. The lighting was a little too low for my liking, making an afternoon doze all too possible, though the intensity and beauty of the playing argued against this. The quartet opened with Beethoven’s Op132, the first movement having an almost Schubertian lyricism to it. However there was just enough astringency to eschew any hint of sentimentality which might have crept in. The whistful second movement provided a rusticated trio with magically spun lines. But the heart of the afternoon came with the long slow movement which unfolded with a gentle, sublime, inevitability. The final movements drew us back to reality with aplomb.

After a brief interval they were joined by Jorg Widmann in Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet. If the opening movement were not as melancholic as it can be, it leant towards nostalgia with the long clarinet lines often disappearing beneath the string melos.

The near painful introspection of the Adagio lifted, drifted and faded by turns, with the clarinet’s gypsy snatches interspersed with seemingly endless solo lines now clearly topping the string sound.

The Andantino allows the clarinettist to display a more raw and aggressive tone, without ever leaving the safe haven of the ensemble. Unfortunately the final movement – though securely played – seemed somewhat dull after the earlier ones, almost as if Brahms had run out of steam.

Details of all events at the Brighton Festival at www.brightonfestival.org

BH

Charpentier: Beata est Maria

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Les Passions; Jean-Marc Andrieu

LIGIA LIDI 0202233-11                    

This new recording from Les Passions is devoted to Marc-Antoine Charpentier, two longer works flanking a number of brief but exquisite compositions.

All of the vocal items are for male voices – drawing on the refined tones of counter-tenor Vincent Lievre-Picard, tenor Sebastien Obrecht and bass Jean-Manuel Condenot – while Les Passions  provide both orchestral support and a number of purely instrumental interludes.

Throughout one is aware of the dance rhythms that underpin even the most deeply felt of spiritual text setting. The opening Magnificat has a joyful  ¾ rhythm which is maintained throughout. Similarly Veni creator has a sense of lift and buoyancy in the lightness of the instrumentation. By contrast the pleading tones of the Salve Regina seem almost melancholic within the context.

The brief interludes show what a master Charpentier is of succinct expression, which is always apt for its liturgical function.

As always, Jean-Marc Andrieu  creates a musical world which is at the same time convincingly authentic yet always alive and enchanting to hear.

Details of performances by Les Passions can be found at www.les-passions.fr and details of the Festival at Abbatiale Saint Robert de La Chaise-Dieu can be found in the News section of this site.

BH

The Finzi Quartet

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 Gerald Finzi: By Footpath and Stile & other chamber works

The Finzi Quartet; Marcus Farnsworth, baritone; Robert Plane, clarinet; Ruth Bolister, oboe

RESONUS RES 10109            73.05

 

Gerald Finzi is still nowhere near as well recognised as he should be. This quietly wonderful new recording must make us ask yet again why this is so. The opening Romance is as delicate as an early spring flower, yet has the strength within its structure to weather any storm. There is no simplistic romanticism, though romantic it certainly is.

The Finzi Quartet bring elegance of musical line, as well as sensitivity of nuance throughout. Their solo items are compelling while their work with others expands the field without ever disrupting the hushed introspection of the whole disc.

Much of the credit for this must go to the arrangements of Christian Alexander which maintain the tentativeness of Finzi’s original scores without risking sentimentality or too extrovert a voice.

Marcus Farnsworth’s rich English tones sit comfortably with Thomas Hardy’s poems, finding the faith and hope inherent in The Oxen and the slight rise in intensity for Exeunt omnes.

The clarinet brings some fire to the Five Bagatelles, but does not outweigh the earlier mood of gentle melancholy. More please. BH

www.resonusclassics.com   info@resonusclassics.com

In Recital at Tulle Cathedral

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 Graham Ashton, trumpet; Michael Matthes, organ

SIGNUM SIGCD 306        58’17”

 

This recording becomes more interesting and challenging as it progresses. Works by da Pesaro and Pachelbel slip past easily, as do the arrangements of Handel’s Sonata in F and Purcell’s Parts upon a Ground. The organ sound is classical, light and pleasing, the trumpet clear and sparkling in the upper registers.

Bach’s familiar D minor Toccata & Fugue seems somewhat out of place amidst the other works. The approach is somewhat frenetic and textures become garbled in the Toccata, though the Fugue is better paced and has greater clarity.

The two modern works are both very pleasing. Graham Ashton’s rather austere Fantasia on a Ground after Purcell makes striking use of the acoustic in Tulle. The opening is so quiet I thought something was wrong with my system.

Roger Steptoe’s Sonata for trumpet and organ is an equally challenging piece though one that recommends itself on subsequent hearing. Tonality is used to create tension, which contrasts impressively with the musical lines spinning out with great beauty.

If the recording seems rather unbalanced it is worth it if only for the items, at beginning and end, which are so splendidly performed. BH

ENO 2012/13 SEASON

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UK premiere of Philip Glass’s The Perfect American, an opera about Walt Disney

World premiere of Michel van der Aa and Cloud Atlas writer David Mitchell’s Sunken Garden, an ‘occult-mystery film opera’

Verdi bicentenary begins in the UK with Peter Konwitschny’s new production of      La traviata

The first full professional staging of Vaughan Williams’ The Pilgrim’s Progress since the Festival of Britain in 1951

Britten centenary celebrated with Deborah Warner and Edward Gardner teaming up for Death in Venice

British composer Ryan Wigglesworth joins ENO as Composer in Residence

ENO’s Artistic Director, John Berry said, ‘As we leave behind an artistically vibrant 2011, our sights are set on keeping ENO relevant and the exciting home for modern opera in London. Contemporary composers, outstanding international directors and British talent take the lead in what I am sure will be another absorbing and thought provoking year for the Company and our audience.’

Yoshi Oïda / Vaughan Williams – 50 years since the UK staging of The Pilgrim’s Progress

Director and actor Yoshi Oïda, who worked with Peter Brook at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, makes his ENO debut directing a new production of Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. This major new production supported by the Vaughan Williams Trust, celebrates an important British work not seen in a fully staged professional production since its premiere for the Festival of Britain in 1951. Yoshi Oïda is partnered by Carolyn Choa (Choreographer and Associate Director for Anthony Minghella’s Madam Butterfly), designer Tom Schenk and conductor Martyn Brabbins.

Michael Keegan-Dolan/Fabulous Beast  Dynamic choreographer/director Michael Keegan-Dolan and his groundbreaking Fabulous Beast company returns to ENO following his Olivier nominated and critically successful staging of The Rite of Spring with a new production of Handel’s Julius Caesar, ENO’s first production of the Handel masterpiece since 1979. Conducted by Christian Curnyn, it will feature a stunning cast including Lawrence Zazzo, Patricia Bardon and Anna Christy and dancers from Fabulous Beast.

Medea (Charpentier)

David McVicar directs the UK’s first staging of one of the greatest but largely unknown French baroque operas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The celebrated British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly and tenor Jeffrey Francis head a strong cast.

ENO 2012/13 season in full:

The Magic Flute, Mozart, opens 13 September 2012

Julietta, Martin?, opens 17 September 2012

Julius Caesar, Handel, opens 1 October 2012

Don Giovanni, Mozart, opens 17 October 2012

The Pilgrim’s Progress, Vaughan Williams, opens 5 November 2012

Carmen, Bizet, opens 21 November 2012

The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan, opens 1 December 2012

La traviata, Verdi, opens 2 February 2013

Medea, Charpentier, opens 15 February 2013

The Barber of Seville, Rossini, opens 25 February 2013

Sunken Garden, Van der Aa, opens 12 April 2013

La bohème, Puccini, opens 29 April 2013

Wozzeck, Berg, opens 11 May 2013

The Perfect American, Glass, opens 1 June 2013

Death in Venice, Britten, opens 14 June 2013

 

Garsington on the beach

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Garsington Opera’s production of La Périchole will be screened live to a beach in the UK for the first time ever, as part of the largest arts and culture festival on the East Coast, SO Festival in Skegness.

The production, which is part of Garsington Opera’s season, is directed by Jeremy Sams, the director behind The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz in London’s West End. The performance is a free event and will be broadcast by satellite from the Garsington Opera Pavilion at Wormsley to a large festival screen at 7.45pm on Sunday 1 July. There will be pre show street theatre and music performances and the Opera will be followed by a spectacular firework display over the sea.

La Périchole, a hugely fun and bubbly comedy which will be performed in English, is set in the 1940s in Cuba, follows the highs and lows of the heroine Périchole, an impoverished Peruvian street singer.

Families are encouraged to come along to the central beach in Skegness, bring a picnic and enjoy an evening of world-class opera. A selection of front row beach deck chairs will be provided for the early arrivals. Local fish and chips, ice creams and refreshments will be for sale from restaurants and food stalls close by.

Anthony Whitworth-Jones, General Director of Garsington Opera, comments: “We are delighted to form a link with the enterprising SO Festival in Skegness with the live screening of our performance of La Périchole. It is thrilling that this event, promoted by East Lindsey District Council will enable a large audience to experience opera, perhaps for the first time, and will be part of the official Cultural Olympiad”.

Public booking is now open for the 2012 season that runs from 2 June to 3 July and features Vivaldi’s rarely performed L’Olimpiade, Offenbach’s charming opera bouffe La Périchole and Mozart’s Don Giovanni . The season will, for the second year running, be supported by Jefferies, a leading global investment banking firm.

www.garsingtonopera.org

For more information about SO Festival please visit www.sofestival.org or contact Lorrie Stock on 01507 613456 or email sofestival@e-lindsey.gov.uk

ENO wins both opera awards in 2012 Olivier Awards

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English National Opera won two Olivier Awards at yesterday’s ceremony, held at the Royal Opera House in London. The UK’s most prestigious theatre award has two categories for opera: Outstanding Achievement in Opera and Best New Opera.

ENO took the Outstanding Achievement in Opera award for ‘The Breadth and Diversity of the Artistic Programme’ and Best New Opera Production for its production of Castor and Pollux. Of a possible 8 nominations, ENO received 6 across both categories.

The double win comes shortly after a string of critically acclaimed new opera productions have opened at ENO’s home of the London Coliseum, including The Death of Klinghoffer directed by Tom Morris, Eugene Onegin directed by Deborah Warner and The Damnation of Faust, directed by Terry Gilliam, as well as those nominated in the Best New Opera Production category.

Castor and Pollux was ENO’s first ever production of a Rameau opera. ENO has an excellent reputation for staging rarely performed works and early repertoire. This production was the London debut of the provocative director Barrie Kosky and was conducted by period specialist Christian Curnyn. The production set Rameau’s 1737 opera into a timeless, placeless setting, which brought the music, singers and raw energy of the performances to the fore. The excellent cast included Allan Clayton and Roderick Williams as the legendary twins, and Sophie Bevan and Laura Tatulescu. The Sunday Telegraph described the production as ‘extraordinary’ giving it five stars, while the Observer praised its ‘outstanding cast’.

New productions A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Christopher Alden and The Passenger, directed by David Pountney were also nominated in the Best New Opera Production category.

Also nominated in the Outstanding Achievement category were Richard Jones for his new production of ENO’s The Tales of Hoffmann amongst several productions and Amanda Holden for her translation of Castor And Pollux, the winning production.

The Dream of Gerontius

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CBSO at Symphony Hall  April 12 2012                                       Edward Gardner    


This post-Easter presentation of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, repeated at the Barbican two days later, was always going to be special, and so it turned out, if not for the reasons previously envisaged.

It was to have been Andris Nelsons’ first-ever ‘Gerontius’, and his entry into the gallery of CBSO principal conductors who have directed the work before him. But family priorities, with the sickness of his infant daughter, quite rightly took sway, and he reluctantly decided to withdraw.

As the luck of scheduling diaries would have it, principal guest
conductor Edward Gardner was free to step into the breach, and what a
memorable job he made of it, this only his own second ‘Gerontius’.

Gardner’s other hat as music director of English National Opera stood
him in good stead here, bringing an instinctive sense of drama and
pacing. On Good Friday the Mariinsky Theatre’s Parsifal had brought
Gerontius to mind; here it was the other way round.

Gardner’s tempi, flowing effortlessly between sections, were bravely
broad, not sanctimoniously so as in the case of ancient interpreters,
but clearly envisioned, aware of their goals. Within these lavish
paragraphs he was able to summon so much detail, whether from the
perennially remarkable CBSO Chorus (and how fresh and youthful they
sounded where necessary!) or from the responsive and supple orchestra
itself.

There were two incidents I’d never noticed before in five decades of
loving the work, but Gardner’s acuity brought them out: the suspenseful
timpani roll over a prolonged organ pedal at the end of Praise to the
Holiest, and the shriek from piccolos and other woodwind as the Soul
of Gerontius glimpses the searing perfection of God for the minutest
instant before gladly consigning himself to Purgatory.

Two of the three soloists were disappointing: tenor Robert Murray, a
late replacement for the indisposed Toby Spence, delivered beautiful
vocal tone and intelligence of diction, but little of the anguished
message of Cardinal Newman’s text; Sarah Connolly’s Angel, somewhat
harsh of timbre, began with a quiet radiance but later failed to
console; but James Rutherford was in his customary commanding,
authoritative form as the Priest despatching Gerontius into the
afterworld, and as the awesome Angel of the Agony interceding for him
as judgement approaches.

The night belonged to the CBSO, its Chorus and Gardner, and an amazing
minute-plus of silence followed the performance. That must have sent
the live BBC broadcasters into their own personal little purgatory,
until the applause at last erupted.

CM