Milton Keynes Sinfonia concert
30 November 2023
The last time I played with Milton Keynes Sinfonia was the concert in March 2020 just before we went into lockdown (reviewed here in March 2020). That evening had a strange atmosphere of nervousness about the rapidly worsening Coronavirus situation. My return to the Chrysalis Theatre in Milton Keynes last theatre to join the orchestra for an evening of ballet music was a much happier occasion. The programme included music from three ballets which all feature dolls, toys or puppets coming to life. The concert started with the ‘Introduction and Mazurka’ from ‘Coppélia’ by Delibes, followed by the ‘Nutcracker Suite’ by Tchaikovsky. But the main event was a performance of ‘Petrushka: A Burlesque in Four Scenes (1947 version)’ by Stravinsky. ‘Petrushka’ is a fiendishly difficult piece, incredibly dramatic and requiring supreme concentration from the orchestra to negotiate Stravinsky’s unpredictable shifts of rhythm and tempo. It also features a series of challenging solos. With apologies to everyone I have forgotten to mention, I was particularly impressed by the woodwind principals Lizzie Molloy (flute), Karen Mason (oboe), Tim Mackley (clarinet) and Ian Every (bassoon) and by my fellow horn player Tom Molloy, William Thallon on piano, Anwen Mai Thomas and a splendid trumpet solo by Nick Bunker. Though I think we were all quite nervous approaching the concert, conductor David Knight drew out an impressive and exciting performance from the orchestra and it was great fun to be part of it.
Labels: Concerts, Music
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
21 November 2023
In 2019 Northampton Symphony Orchestra performed at Clifton Cathedral in Bristol (reviewed here in November 2019) - our first trip away from Northamptonshire since I joined the orchestra in 2000. This had been intended as the first in a series of annual weekends away for the orchestra but our plans were curtailed by the pandemic. Last weekend NSO was finally on tour again, spending two days in Grantham where we performed a concert at the Church of Saint John the Evangelist in Spitalgate. The concert was part of a programme of fundraising to support more community activities at the recently reopened church, which has just secured National Lottery funding to launch a Community Fridge - a space that brings people together to share food, meet up, learn new skills and prevent fresh food from going to waste. Our host was the church's Director of Music, the soprano Helen Winter, who helped to organise the concert, brought her choir, the St John's Winter Singers (plus guests from other local choirs) to perform with us, and sang two amazing solos with the orchestra herself. We travelled to Grantham on Saturday morning, rehearsed in the church in the afternoon and had a meal together on Saturday evening, ahead of the concert on Sunday afternoon. With some people unable to join us for the weekend, it was a smaller orchestra than normal and our Music Director, John Gibbons, did a great job of arranging many of the pieces for the available forces. The concert included music by Delius, Vaughan Williams, Wagner, Fauré, Mozart and Mascagni. Orchestra member Hilary Glanville gave a stunning performance of the 'Pastoral Fantasia for Viola and String Orchestra' by Northampton's William Alwyn - a beautiful, haunting piece with echoes of Delius and Vaughan Williams. But the highlight of the concert (for me at least!) was the 'Konzertstück for four Horns' by Heinrich Hübler which featured the NSO horn section - Callie Rich, Callie Scully, Ian Jones and me. Hübler was a horn player who performed in the premiere of Schumann's 'Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra' and was inspired to compose a similar piece. Hübler's Konzertstück is slightly easier to play than the Schumann and more evenly shares the melodic lines amongst all four solo horns. We were very pleased with our first concerto performance together and it seemed to go down well with the enthusiastic audience at St John's. We are looking forward to playing the Hübler concerto again at the NSO Friends concert in July 2024. Our Grantham concert was a lovely occasion, featuring a wide variety of musical styles and some beautiful, delicate playing by the orchestra, including wonderful woodwind solos by Graham Tear, Sarah Mourant and Christine Kelk. Although we were a little under-rehearsed I think this just made us concentrate more carefully in the concert which was one of our best performances for a long time. We had a really enjoyable weekend in Grantham: it was nice to spend time together as an orchestra, with plenty of great conversation over food. Many thanks to Helen Winter, John Gibbons and Callie Rich for organising everything.
Labels: Concerts, Music, NSO23-24
Tom Robinson
16 November 2023
Last Friday we made a first visit to Storey's Field Centre - the impressive new community centre in the new district of Eddington on the outskirts of Cambridge - to see Tom Robinson in concert. Regular readers will know I am a big fan of Tom Robinson who we have seen perform many times across the country (see: https://culturaldessert.blogspot.com/search?q=tom+robinson). As usual Tom used the show to introduce a young musician he has been championing on his BBC 6 Music radio show. This time singer-songwriter Sam Eagle used the concert to launch his debut album ‘Are You Listening?’ Sam is a brilliant guitarist with a delicate, precise voice who writes beautiful, wistful songs. Tom Robinson often updates the lyrics to his songs - this time including references to Downing Street parties and other recent events - but, at 73 years old, he explained he can’t always remember the new words so he had printed them out, meaning he had to keep putting his glasses on mid-song to be able to read them: ah, the perils of getting older! His longevity has also caused him to update his 1994 song ‘What if we live to be fifty’ to ‘What if I make it to eighty’. It was great to see him again and to revisit 'Glad to be Gay', 'War Baby', '2-4-6-8 Motorway' and many other old favourites.
Labels: Concerts, Music
'Three Things About Elsie' by Joanna Cannon
8 November 2023
Joanna Cannon’s novel ‘The Trouble with Goats and Sheep’ (reviewed here in January 2022) charmingly used a naive first person narrator to turn a fairly normal domestic situation into a thrilling mystery. As we saw events primarily through the eyes of 10-year old Grace we were never entirely sure whether she had spotted sinister activities that the grown-ups hadn't noticed or whether she was mistakenly misinterpreting things she didn't understand. I've just finished reading Joanna Cannon's 2018 novel 'Three Things About Elsie' which uses a similar device but with the protagonist at the opposite end of her life journey. Here the first person narrator is Florence, a woman in her 80s living in a retirement home. As she starts to encounter signs that an intruder has been in her room, and the reappearance of a shadowy character from her past, we begin to wonder how much of what she tells us is true and how much is the result of her failing memory. Like 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' the story becomes a detective mystery as Florence and her friends try to uncover long hidden secrets. It's an entertaining and engaging novel, easy to read but full of beautifully turned phrases and much cleverer than it first appears. As with 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' I felt the brilliantly unsettling device of the ambiguity of the narrator was watered down by inserting chapters from the points of view of some of the other main characters. But Joanna Cannon creates a great cast of likeable characters who initially appear to be cartoonish but gradually reveal their sympathetic human depth.
Labels: Books
'Slow Horses' by Mick Herron
1 November 2023
I really enjoyed reading Mick Herron's spy thriller 'Slow Horses' - a novel that dives deep into the underbelly of intelligence work, far from the glamour often associated with the genre. Set against the backdrop of London's shadowy streets, 'Slow Horses' introduces readers to Slough House—MI5's dumping ground for disgraced operatives. The book blends the mundanity of bureaucratic exile with the high stakes of national security, creating a narrative that is both thrilling and absurdly comedic. Each chapter ends on a mini-cliffhanger that propels you eagerly to the next. As the slow horses grapple with a chance to redeem themselves by tackling an unexpected incident, Herron ramps up the pace. The plot, while often preposterous, is tightly woven and bursting with intrigue. 'Slow Horses' is the first in a series of novels and I'm looking forward to working my way through them.
Labels: Books
