Saturday 9 September 2017

A strong turn-out for a varied and entertaining concert, which ranged from less familiar classical works to the highly popular.

Stephen Page opened with a triumphant voluntary by Alan Viner, Lobe den Herren followed by Bach’s Chorale Prelude Wir glauben all’ an einen GottBWV680 to mark the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation. His use of the cantus firmus here was in marked contrast to John Ireland’s gentle Villanella which requires a wide range of registration.

Howells’ Psalm Prelude No1 from Set1 demonstrated the English cathedral sound the St Peter’s organ can command, and this gave way to the warm tones of Pachelbel’s brief Chaconne in F minor.  Herschel’s allegro from a longer suite used echo refrains and could easily have been written for a mechanical clock.

Not that any of the above made for difficult listening but the rest of the programme was in a lighter, more familiar vein, commencing with Yon’s Toccatina for flutes and Lang’s Tuba Tune. Karg-Elert’s Chorale-Improvisation on Nun danket alle Gott needed no introduction but it was good to know the background to Fats Waller’s The Jitterbug Waltz – how many of us knew he played the organ?

As a tribute to the 40^th anniversary of Star Wars we heard a brief and quiet piece from John William’s film score before Stephen Page concluded with one of his most popular works – Abe Holzmann’s  Blaze Away!

The next organ concert at St Peter’s will be given by their resident organist, Anthony Wilson, on Saturday 11 November at 10.30am.

St Mary in the Castle, Saturday 30 September 2017

La Boheme returned to St Mary in the Castle last Saturday with new principle singers. The difference it made demonstrated both the strength of Jenny Miller’s production and the impact of the singers themselves. American tenor, Andrew McGowan, was a youthful, naïve and impetuous Rudolfo. There were no problems at the top of the voice and he brought a heady romanticism to his wooing of Mimi. For once the on-off relationship made perfect sense, and his desolation at her death was truly moving.

Lucy Ashton, who sang Pamina for us last year in Opera South East’s production of The Magic Flute, was outstanding as Mimi. Her openness of manner and honest emotions caught the complexity of Mimi’s character, and her singing throughout was finely focused and moving.

The rest of the cast may have been familiar from the earlier performance with Oscar Castellino a fine Marcello and the instrumental ensemble splendidly well balanced.

St Mary in the Castle, Friday 8 September 2017

It is easy to forget that La Boheme is essentially an intimate work. The voices may be large but the emotions are very personal. The great strength of Jenny Miller’s new production for Barfoot Opera is that it drew on these realities and made them the heart of the evening. The umbrellas and the hints of prostitution which underpin the story were very effective. Added to this was one of the finest small ensembles supporting the work.  It was a stroke of genius to include Milos Milosovic on the accordion, its gently melancholic tones being absolutely in tune with the unfolding pathos of the drama.

The majority of the cast was strongly characterised with the women being particularly impressive. Sarah Foubert as Mimi was able to combine a genuine sense of consumption with a radiant top to the voice and her act three aria was thrilling. Elaine McDaid’s Musetta was equally strongly characterised and a perfect foil to Oscar Castellino’s well rounded and persuasive Marcello.

Laurence Panter seemed miscast as Rudolfo. He had difficulty with the tessitura of the role and often seemed hesitant musically. His acting was firm and convincing throughout and it may be that he would impress more positively under other circumstances.

Mathew Thistleton’s Colline and Tim Patrick’s Benoit were both positive presences, and there can surely be few like Andrew Sparling, able to double Shaunard perfectly convincingly with solo clarinet in the ensemble. His obbligato opening to Musetta’s quando m’en vo was masterly and totally apt.

Inevitably there were some cuts, acceptable in act two given the lack of children on stage but unfortunate in act three which lost its structure at the start. Thankfully the quartet was emotionally as challenging as it should be and became the climax of the evening.

Barefoot Opera return on 11 November with Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Kino-Teatr, St Leonards, Sunday 28 August 2017

The only word which comes to mind in trying to sum up Jesus Olmedo’s flamenco show is immersive. We were tipped in at the deep end, without explanation, introduction or any sense of where the journey was going. It was at once thrilling and wonderfully challenging.

Unless we happened to be highly informed on flamenco style and content – which one has to admit was unlikely on a bank holiday weekend in Hastings – we simply had to go along with what we were experiencing, but it was well worth the effort.

To describe briefly our journey. A solo guitar plays quietly, becoming more complex in rhythm and emotional impact as it progresses. A man – Jesus Olmego – dances solo accompanied only by his own castanets until he eventually draws in the guitar and bass. The woman sings a melody which seems to lie somewhere between a composed song and a free improvisation. The clapping builds between the dancers becoming ever more complex.

Jesus Olmego sings and gradually draws the woman to dance until suddenly she takes over and is leading the group and driving the pace forward, her footwork a riot of cross rhythms and accents.

The second half opens with the dancers together, with the woman leading on the castanets.

She sings after this – the refrain a lo querido being the only words to impinge – before a longer guitar improvisation which includes a veritable game as rhythms are passed around and mirrored.

At the end of the evening Jesus Olmego danced a linked series of shorter pieces, each appearing to have a different emotional context, while the complexity of the dance steps became almost hedonistically absorbing.

Had we learned anything about flamenco? Possibly not. Had we experienced flamenco? Certainly, and it was for us to reflect on that experience. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

The encore was unexpected. The guitarist, who had played so well throughout the evening, suddenly sang and danced himself. It was a different more guttural approach but entirely in keeping with an evening which reminded us of the origins of flamenco even as it brought us one of the finest modern interpreters.

Opus Theatre, Hastings, Saturday 26 August 2017

Robert Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists came back to Mugsborough last weekend – or rather Costal Productions brought their staging of Tressell’s masterpiece to Opus Theatre for two performances. A packed house was taken through the devious vicissitudes of the aristocracy and capitalist bosses as they sought to keep the workers in their place. Owen Hutchings brought us a deeply committed Frank Owen who tries to convince his fellow workers that they have the ability to control their own destiny if only they would accept it, but the long opening scene makes it all too clear why the revolution is taking so long to come, when too many of the workers are their own worst enemies.

Although on one level this is essentially a polemical work, it more than justifies its place within the theatre when it draws inevitably parallels with modern day situations. While there were references to Amber Rudd and Brexit, they were not really necessary in the light of the on-going refusal of people to take responsibility for their own lives through joint action rather than blaming others for the problems which surround them. The regular depression of wages is a constant theme throughout the play yet is still a relevant cause a century later.

The eight actors play a wide range of parts between them and it took a little time for these to establish themselves, as did the level of voices within the auditorium which tended to fade in the opening scenes. However, once we came to the brilliant analysis of the relationship between capital and labour, superbly choreographed by Owen Hutchings, the play moved to another level.

It was a long evening and not everyone returned after the interval, which was a pity for they missed the unfolding of an argument which is yet to reach resolution. It was telling that the political speeches towards the end did not need updating, for they were as crass as most tub-thumping is at election time. In the end, Frank Owen is obviously dying of consumption, brought on through his work, and the other painters are living on lower wages even where they are in work. Any current concerns about over meticulous Health & Safety regulations only need to witness the death of the elderly worker to realise that thankfully we are a world away from there.

The evening gave us much to contemplate and a sound basis for developing a greater political awareness – which is just what Robert Tressell would have wanted.