'Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra' by Kimmo Hakola
21 December 2006
This week I have been listening to the 'Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra' by the contemporary Finnish composer, Kimmo Hakola (a recording by Kari Kriikku - for whom the work was written - and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo). This is an amazing piece of music: the first movement is fast, spiky, serious, aggressive, contemporary classical music - fine but unremarkable - but then the work gets progressively stranger and more interesting. The second movement has some lovely gentle tunes and strays towards a film music sound. In the third and fourth movements we get a mixture of klezmer, blues, Balkan gypsy music and sounds from the Middle East as well as the orchestra muttering and mumbling to each other to create the sound of a crowd. When I first started to listen to the recording I soon drifted off to do something else leaving the music playing in the background but after a while found myself rushing back to find out what was going on! It must very exciting to it see performed live - and, I suspect, even more so to play it.
Labels: Albums, Music
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
13 December 2006
Last Sunday I played in the annual Northampton Symphony Orchestra 'Christmas Cracker' concert at Spinney Hill Theatre, Northampton. This is always a really enjoyable afternoon with a wide range of festive and film music (including Star Wars and Harry Potter this year), a narrated piece (Howard Blake's 'The Snowman') and carols for the audience to sing - plus the obligatory mulled wine and mince pies. And each year the orchestra seems to be slightly more festooned with tinsel, reindeer antlers and santa hats! The 'Christmas Cracker' is always a popular concert and this year we had an audience of more than 500 - that's a lot of mince pices! Part of the attraction might have been our compere, local actor Arnold Peters - perhaps better known as 'Jack Woolley' from 'The Archers'. As well as introducing the concert he gave a very creditable performance in conducting the orchestra in Walton's 'Popular Song' from 'Facade'. Our encore, somewhat inevitably was the maypole dance 'Barwick Green' from the suite 'My Native Heath' by Arthur Wood - better known as the theme to a certain long-running radio drama serial ("tum-ti-tum-ti-tum-ti-tum, tum-ti-tum-ti tum tum ..."). Billy Connolly once said that this tune should replace "God Save the Queen" as the national anthem. I notice that Archers Addicts can now
download it as a ring tone ...
Labels: Concerts, Music
Buckinghamshire Chamber Orchestra concert
13 December 2006
On Saturday I was playing with Buckinghamshire Chamber Orchestra at a concert in St Peter and Paul's Church in Buckingham. I last played with the orchestra in its inaugural concert in June 2004 and I think they've made impressive progress (from what was actually a pretty good start). The programme this time included Beethoven's 2nd symphony and the Mozart concerto for flute and harp. I rarely play classical repertoire with such a small orchestra but I always find it extremely rewarding - and surprisingly hard work! Every note becomes immensely important and you need great attention detail and an exhausting degree on concentration. We opened the concert with the 'Siegfried Idyll' by Wagner. This piece was a surprise birthday present for Wagner's wife, Cosima - she awoke on her birthday on Christmas Day 1870 to hear the music she thought she had been dreaming wafting into her bedroom from an orchestra positioned on the stairs. It's a gorgeous work which I haven't played for many years and I really enjoyed rediscovering it.
Labels: Concerts, Music
Danesborough Chorus concert
8 December 2006
On Saturday we made the short journey through the deer park to Woburn Church for a carol concert by our local choral society, Danesborough Chorus. The choir was joined by the brass section from the Milton Keynes City Orchestra for a lovely mixture of festive fare. The highlight for me was Monteverdi’s ‘Deus in Adiutorium’, for which the brass were placed behind the audience at the opposite end of the church to the choir – recreating the magnificent effect of 17th century surround sound!
Labels: Concerts, Music
