45 Minutes of Music

The Meeting House at University of Sussex

A series of informal concerts by D’Arcy Trinkwon

Last Wednesday – every month @ 12 noon

January 31 February 28 March 21* April 25 May 30

FREE ADMISSION  everyone welcome

January 31

Fantasia & Fugue in F KREBS

Fantasia in G minor PACHELBEL

‘Echo’ Fantasia SWEELINCK

Fantasia: Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland BRUHNS

Sonata quasi una Fantasia, Op.129 PEETERS

Fantaisie et fugue BOËLY

February 28

Fantasia & Fugue in C minor, BWV537 BACH

Fantasia in G, BWV571 Trio Sonata in D TELEMANN

Deux fantaisies ALAIN

Fantasia & Fugue on BACH LISZT

March 21

please note this is the penultimate Wednesday of March – not the last

Fantasia & Fugue in G minor, BWV542 BACH

Fantasia in C, BWV570 Echo Fantasia SWEELINCK

Fantasia in F minor & Major, K594 MOZART

Troisième Fantaisie, Op.157 SAINT-SAËNS

Fantasia on Mozart’s Turkish March WEINER

We are used to new carols each Christmas but it is always good to find one which is not only locally sources but locally set.

In the early sixteenth century a monk in Battle Abbey wrote a Christmas carol on a leaf in his service book. It was recently rediscovered in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, and, through the chairman of the Battle Historical Society, Stephen Page was commissioned to create a new setting for the text. It was given its premiere performance by Battle Community Singers at the society’s December meeting, where their MD Ailsa Vinson welcomed their accompanist Stephen Page to conduct the premiere.

The text had been tactfully transcribed into modern English by Charlotte Moore. Where the monk wrote sorrow increaseth, and envye is bold?/ When chereti is skantye and waxethe colde she changed the second line to When charity is scanty and does grow cold. She thought that if she had written waxes, people would not have understood as too often today waxing is something people do in beauty parlours.

Otherwise, the carol flows as its author intended. The monk’s topics seem surprisingly relevant. All fancy talk is not worth a straw?/ Where there’s no love which fulfills the law?/ Therefore in meeting where ye resort?/ Belie no man with false report. The chorus shows that the Christmas message itself hasn’t altered much in 500 years, Be merry all with one accord?/ And be ye followers of Christ’s word.

New Year’s Eve Viennese Gala concert at Brighton Dome

Soprano Rebecca Bottone is one of the most versatile performers on the operatic stage today. It has been said that she gets her charisma from her father, the tenor Bonaventura Bottone, but her chameleon ability is entirely her own. Her character roles have been highly acclaimed in performances at the Royal Opera House and with the Welsh National Opera. On New Year’s Eve she appears as herself when she joins the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra at Brighton Dome for the second year running, to add glamour and sparkle to a very Viennese celebration. Her contributions will include “By Strauss” from An American in Paris, “The Waltz Song” from Tom Jones and the bewitching “Vilja” from The Merry Widow. When she sang here last New Year’s Eve The Argus reviewer wrote: “the charming Rebecca Bottone, a soprano who loves to show off in the nicest possible sense, seduced and dazzled with a display that showed not just vocal agility but a fine control of tone and soaring power. Her supreme talents were best shown in the melodious Vilja by Lehar, enhanced by shimmering strings.”

The orchestra will welcome in 2018 with a feast of popular orchestral favourites from that golden age of Viennese light music just before the First World War – a programme of lively and nostalgic music from the repertoire of the Strauss family and its contemporaries. Johann Strauss II captured the light-hearted approach to life favoured by the Viennese of his day more than anyone else. With gems such as the Emperor Waltz he established himself as “The Waltz King” and surely no such celebration of Viennese music is complete without that perennial favourite The Blue Danube Waltz.

Alongside the traditional foot-tapping Strauss waltzes, polkas and marches, conductor Barry Wordsworth has included favourite light music scores from some of our finest English composers: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ fabulous English folk tune Fantasia on Greensleeves, Malcolm Arnold’s gorgeous folk tune influenced English Country Dance No.8 and Richard Rodney Bennett’s “Waltz” from Murder on the Orient Express – a brilliant musical depiction of a train moving away from the station platform.

With such a varied and entertaining programme on offer, why not join the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra on Sunday afternoon to welcome in the New Year with style and panache.

This concert, firmly established as part of the city’s festivities and generously sponsored by the John Carewe Brighton Orchestra Trust, nearly sold out last year, so do book early to avoid disappointment.

The third concert of the Brighton Phil’s current season at Brighton Dome on Sunday 3 December takes us from the sun-drenched Italian Riviera to the jazz clubs of pre-war America courtesy of three great Romantic composers: Elgar, Ravel & Rachmaninov, in the company of Conductor Laureate Barry Wordsworth and the illustrious pianist Melvyn Tan.

Elgar’s concert overture In the South is a fabulous evocation of a family holiday in Alassio that perfectly captures the delights of an Italian town and the grandeur of the Italian coast.

Sumptuous and punchy, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major is infused with the jazz-age glamour that he experienced on a concert tour of America and in the clubs of Paris – a heady juxtaposition of jazz syncopation and neo-classical elegance.

Barry Wordsworth, Conductor Laureate, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, says “The Ravel is one of my favourite piano concertos as it shows the genius of this great composer to perfection, and with a soloist we will be so proud to have with us again in Brighton. Three masterworks of the most contrasting mood and character will make up a wonderful afternoon of symphonic music.”

Epic in scale yet intimate in mood, Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony is surely one of the best loved in the repertoire. Its hauntingly beautiful central theme is one of the most exquisite by a composer noted for his luscious melodies, and ends this concert on a torrent of romantic ecstasy.

Tickets (from £12-£38) are available from Brighton Dome Ticket Office in Church Street, Brighton, (01273) 709709 and online: www.brightondome.org – 50% discount for students and Under 18s.

Discounted parking is available for BPO concert-goers at NCP Church Street – just £6 between 1-6pm.