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30 May \u2013 2 June 2013<\/span><\/p>\n For the first weekend this year which hinted that summer was really here at last, Ludlow seemed the ideal place to be. Not only was it warm with blue skies but Ludlow had everything one could ask of a small English town. Add in days packed with high quality talks and musical events and one was spoilt for choice.<\/p>\n One of the great advantages of a small festival is that, while there are a large number of events packed into the weekend, there is only one major event at any one time, which means that there is a rapid sense of camaraderie among the audience, who keep meeting the same people hour by hour.<\/p>\n The festival is run by the Finzi Friends<\/i> and al events focus closely on English Song, while showing a surprising range of approaches and interests.<\/p>\n The opening event, on Thursday 30 May, was a talk by John Bridcut<\/span> at the Assembly Roons \u2013 If Love be the Food of Music<\/i> \u2013 considering the importance of relationships in the lives of composers. Though the information itself was not specifically new, the accumulation of evidence made a strong case. Many composers had difficult, not to say torrid, relationships which can be argued to have had an intense impact on their compositions. He considered Vaughan Williams and Delius in some depth, and recent evidence on the impact on Lady Elgar of Edward\u2019s on-going flirtations with younger musicians. If Delius was the most hedonistic, surprisingly, given our current obsession with paedophilia, it was Britten\u2019s innocent relationships with young boys which became all the more challenging. This was followed up later with a re-showing of John Birdcut\u2019s 2004 film Britten\u2019s Children<\/i>, a highly sensitive account of the composer\u2019s obsession with young boys, but one which goes a very long way to calm any concerns we might still have today about any illegal activities. The lat David Hemmings makes it quite clear. Britten loved boys, but dropped them as soon as they became young men when their voices broke; his only interest seeming to be their music making and innocent fun. \u00a0This fascinating, and often quite intense, presentation set the tone for the whole weekend.<\/p>\n Later that afternoon David Hurley<\/span> from the King\u2019s Singers gave us a very different talk. While claiming to be an overview of four hundred years of English Song, it was in real terms an overview of the King\u2018s Singers repertoire. None the less interesting for that, is made a sound introduction to their performance in St Lawrence\u2019s church that evening, though that was not before we had enjoyed a communal Shropshire Summer in the Assembly Rooms.<\/p>\n The King\u2019s Singers<\/span> programme followed its familiar course, opening with some fine renditions of madrigals by Morley and Wilbye, whose Draw on, sweet night <\/i>was particularly effective. They then moved to five of Seven Poems of Robert Bridges<\/i> in settings by Gerald Finzi. Though these are not the finest of his song settings they were unusual enough to be worth including in a festival event, and Clear and gentle stream<\/i> is certainly very moving. Five Nonsense Madrigals <\/i>by Ligeti proved stimulating and challenging in equal measure, allowing us to indulge ourselves in the gentler tones of Elgar, Stanford and Parry after the interval. Perhaps the most interesting piece of the evening was Britten\u2019s The ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard. <\/i>Smuggled in to Oflag VIIB in 1943, it was first performed at Christmas that year in the prison camp. The piano accompaniment rings out like church bells as the tragic tale unfolds. It has the simplicity of Noah<\/i> or The Golden Vanity\u00b8 <\/i>and is most effective. As usual, the King\u2019s Singers ended with more popular items, concluding with a barber-shop version of When I fall in love.<\/i><\/p>\n Early the next morning, or it certainly felt like it having not left the Britten film until 12.15am, we gathered for a talk by Roderick Swanston<\/span> on Facing the issue with words \u2013<\/i> a finely illustrated talk aimed at countering Britten\u2019s accusation that earlier English composers simply could not set words properly. With a fine range of musical illustrations, both recorded and live, he demonstrated the subtlety of many song settings, often comparing two different settings of the same poem. All of this was convey with a fine sense of humour and an ability to talk to us without burying his head in piles of notes. A fine hour and one where we learned much with great ease.<\/p>\n Philip Lancaster<\/span> not only sings English Song but is heavily involved in research which became evident in his morning recital in St Lawrence. Alongside works by Stanford and Howells we heard unpublished works by Parry and Finzi. Stanford\u2019s \u00a0Song of Hope<\/i> is an extended arioso from Psalm 130 and somewhat dull compared with Parry\u2019s unpublished Soliloquy from Browning\u2019s Saul. <\/i>If it has a rather ineffectual ending which Parry might have altered, there is a strong narrative line developed and Parry\u2019s usual keen sense of melody. Finzi\u2019s setting of Rossetti\u2019s Before the paling of the stars<\/i> is even better. It may be a very early work but is so confidently written it surely deserves publication now.<\/p>\n Alex Mason<\/span> replaced Shaun Ward at short notice as organ accompanist and also soloist. Though the works were all obviously late romantic they did enable us to hear the Snetzler organ which rings confidently from the north aisle. Vaughan Williams Rhosymedre<\/i> was particularly lovely.<\/p>\n That afternoon we turned to another side of the festival which was the competition for new songs by young composers. The competition had been launched in 2010, when the festival was last held, and drew on the strengths of young composers in both sixth forms and at university.<\/p>\n We heard from six composers \u2013 two from sixth form and four from the older age group \u2013 with introductions by Julian Philips<\/span> who had chaired the panel. The conversations with the composers proved fascinating in themselves and gave us a clearer insight into their works. Being a composer himself, Julian Philips was able to reflect upon the subtleties of balancing not only words against music but the complexities of writing for different voices and different singers, encouraging the young composers to work closely with living poets and singers as they developed their art.<\/p>\n Alex Paxton\u2019s<\/span> setting of Carol Ann Duffy\u2019s Talent<\/i> was a clear winner. Not only was it subtle and humorous, but was easily assimilated on a first hearing, while holding back nuances which would develop as one got to know it better. Bertie Baigent won the 16-18 category with a setting of Three Coleridge Fragments.<\/i> My only concern as a member of the audience was the lack of any audience input into the competition, to take account of the impact of the songs on a audience hearing them for the first time. While I could admire the complexity of the writing and the technical accomplishment, I wondered how many of the audience would actually like to attend a whole recital of music as challenging as much of this was?<\/p>\n Unfortunately examining duties of my own took me away from Ludlow at this point. A great pity as there were two more days of concerts, including a talk from Diana McVeagh\u00a0 and a master-class from John Tomlinson.<\/p>\n It took three years and a large amount of work from a large anumber of people, not the least of whom was Paul Spicer<\/span>, the Chairman of Finzi Friends, to mount this Festival under increasingly strained financial circumstances. Let us hope that events as important enough as this are allowed to continue and flourish. BH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 30 May \u2013 2 June 2013 For the first weekend this year which hinted that summer was really here at last, Ludlow seemed the ideal place to be. Not only was it warm with blue skies but Ludlow had everything … Continue reading