WOMAD 2026

29 July 2026

When the WOMAD Festival moved to Charlton Park in Wiltshire in 2007 (reviewed here in August 2007) that first festival at the new site was beset by problems, exacerbated by the constant rain that created a sea of mud. Last weekend's first post-Charlton Park WOMAD, at the festival's new home of Neston Park near Corsham in Wiltshire, seemed to have learned much from the 2007 experience - and also benefited from near perfect weather. For the first outing at this new venue (after a fallow year with no festival in 2025), everything seemed to go extremely smoothly. Neston Park feels smaller than Charlton Park (the WOMAD programme described it as "more intimate") but the numbers attending seemed to fit the space well. I soon got the hang of the new layout of the festival arena (though it took me until Saturday afternoon to realise that the beautiful path through the sunflower field provided a handy shortcut between the two halves of the arena). I'm not sure they had got the positioning of all the stages quite right but I expect the necessary tweaks will be in place by next year's festival. And, for me, 2026 was, musically, the best WOMAD for quite a while. I saw 23 performances over the three days, including 15 full sets, and there were many many highlights. It was great to see WOMAD founder Peter Gabriel on stage on Saturday afternoon to pay tribute to the WOMAD Festival Director Chris Smith who is retiring after 20 years in charge. Later in the day I found myself standing immediately behind Peter Gabriel in the crowd in the Sunflower Tent, watching the band LYR, featuring the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. I really enjoyed Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek and their 1970s psychedelic version of traditional Anatolian folk music. I was charmed by the intergenerational group representing the Lăutăresele Şaraimanic project that celebrates music from the variety of different ethnic communities in Romania. While these performances of Anatolian and Romanian folk music presented the traditional in an innovative modern way, the Mexican brass band Mixanteña de Santa Cecilia performed music from the Pacific coast of Mexico in a way that appeared to be completely historically authentic, with traditional costumes and dancers, but was no less thrilling. Bénin International Musical's "incendiary voodoo sound of West Africa" was engaging and varied. And I loved the Brooklyn disco funk of Say She She. Amidst these big danceable shows on the main stage, I'm pleased I also found the time to see Pakistani musician Ustad Noor Bakhsh on the smaller Village Stage. He plays the benju - a zither with typewriter-style keys, played like a lap-steel guitar - and he only found international recognition when already in his late seventies. His hypnotic fast-picking tunes found an enthusiastic audience at WOMAD and provided a beautiful opportunity for contemplation. But my favourite moments of the 2026 WOMAD Festival were the polyphonic vocals of the Occitan group Barrut from Southern France and the high energy singing and dancing of Galician female folk trio Tanxugueiras from Northern Spain. In both cases I found myself thrilled to have chosen to be at those stages at that time and thinking I will remember these performances for many years.

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Prom

22 July 2026

On Tuesday we were at the Royal Albert Hall in London for our first visit to the BBC Proms in many years. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Storgårds, were in impressive form. The programme opened with 'Tales of a Summer Sea' - a piece by Betsy Jolas, who is due to celebrate her 100th birthday this year. This was a belated UK premiere for her 1977 reworking of elements of the incidental music she wrote in 1962 for a production of 'The Tempest'. It's an atmospheric piece that conjures up the power of the ocean through a large orchestra including masses of percussion and two sets of timpani. We then heard Sueye Park perform the Sibelius 'Violin Concerto' - one of my favourite pieces and one I have played in the orchestra for on several occasions. Sueye Park played beautifully and delicately but the acoustics of the vast Albert Hall made it quite a strain to hear the solo violin. John Storgårds restrained the orchestra volume very effectively but I would have preferred to hear both soloist and accompaniment a little more off the leash. The second half of the concert featured 'Also sprach Zarathustra' - Richard Strauss's orchestral tone poem inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's huge poem. The opening fanfare must be one of the most famous moments in classical music, from its use in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey', but the 35 minutes that follow are rarely heard. Which is a shame as it is a great piece - powerful, playful, spectacular and serene. Though I know the work from recordings, I had never heard it live before and it was really helpful to see it performed in order to make sense of the different sections of the music and the instrumentation. It was wonderful to hear the mighty Albert Hall organ. The tubular bells chiming midnight, heralding the quiet, enigmatic ending of the piece, rang out brilliantly from the balcony at the top of the Albert Hall. It was a very entertaining concert, excellently performed.

Buckingham Music Festival

16 July 2026

On Wednesday, we made a first visit to the Buckingham Music Festival at the Radcliffe Centre, a lovely converted church concert venue in the middle of Buckingham (where we previously saw the Adderbury Ensemble, reviewed here in October 2024). In the morning we saw a piano recital by Craig Greene which featured three early sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 3 was composed in 1775 during his early years visiting Munich. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 was composed in 1795 and dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn. And Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 1 was his Opus 1, composed in 1853 when he was just 20. It was fascinating to hear the contrast in these early works by the three composers, brilliantly played by Craig Greene, and to hear the development in the use of the piano over a relatively short period of time from the 1770s to the 1850s. The hall was packed for this morning recital. After lunch, we returned to the Radcliffe Centre for a performance by Oxus, a string quartet from Oxford, who presented a programme 'From the Steppes of Central Asia', inspired by the peoples and vast landscapes of the Caucasus and beyond. This featured movements from string quartets by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Borodin, which drew on local folk music across Russia and Ukraine. They also played arrangements of traditional pieces, including a Ukrainian folk song, music collected in Kazakhstan, an Armenian traditional tune, and finishing with a medley from 'Fiddler on the Roof'. It was a very entertaining and varied programme, nicely introduced by the members of the quartet. A very pleasant way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

14 July 2026

Our traditional, season-ending, short, Sunday afternoon Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert for the Friends of the Orchestra, is always a lovely way to mark the start of the summer. It's also a great opportunity for the orchestra to play repertoire that wouldn't fit into one of our normal concerts. It's a chance for us, and our audience, to explore shorter pieces for a smaller orchestra. At this year's Friends' concert at Christchurch in Northampton on Sunday we played Schubert's 'Symphony No. 8' (the 'Unfinished Symphony'). I hadn't played this popular work for many years and had forgotten what a lovely piece it is. There is something very satisfying about playing a classical symphony that is so cleverly constructed and beautifully written but less technically challenging than some of the repertoire we usually play, providing the opportunity to play much more carefully and precisely. I would agree with our percussionist, Keith Crompton, who said to me after the concert that he thought the Schubert was the best the orchestra had played for a long time. Conductor John Gibbons drew a lovely, rich sound from the orchestra and kept the rhythms clear and steady. We continued our tradition of featuring the latest Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust soloists competition winners. Amy played the final section of the Glazunov 'Saxophone Concerto' very impressively. And Stan gave a stunning performance of the last two movements of the lovely 'Concertino for Trombone' by Ferdinand David. When Felix Mendelssohn was asked to compose a trombone concerto he declined due to time restraints but passed the task to the leader of his Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ferdinand David. The resulting Concertino was dedicated to the Gewandhaus trombonist Karl Traugott Queisser, who first performed it, with Mendelssohn conducting, in 1837. We also played the catchy 'Folk Song Suite' by Vaughan Williams and we finished the concert with the Rossini overture ‘The Thieving Magpie’ which featured excellent solos by Harriet Brown (oboe), Helen Taylor (flute), Rob Reid (clarinet), Sian Bunker (bassoon) and Ian Jones (horn). 

'Four Last Songs' by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon

14 July 2026

I have written here several times (particularly in November 2010 and November 2024) about my long personal connection to the 'Four Last Songs' by Richard Strauss. I am grateful to Lindsey Jackson for remembering this and giving me a copy of Linda and Michael Hutcheon's 2015 book 'Four Last Songs' which explores aging and creativity by looking at the late works of four composers: Verdi, Strauss, Messiaen and Britten. The Hutcheons are academics at the University of Toronto (a literary theorist and a physician). As they both entered their sixties they became increasingly interested in continuing creativity in older age, and their book felt a very timely read for me as I started my retirement. By examining the later lives of the four composers, they look at whether their last compositions try to sum up their lives and their achievements or to point forward through an unexpected change in style. Verdi, famous for his very successful tragic operas, deliberately chose to end his career by writing a comic opera, 'Falstaff', to send a message to other Italian composers warning against the increasing 'Germanism' of Italian opera. The late works of Richard Strauss, including the 'Four Last Songs', seem to reject his previous exploration of modernism and revert to 'being Strauss'. Messiaen decided to spend his last years writing his first opera - the incredibly ambitious 'Saint Francois d'Assise'. Britten's last opera 'Death in Venice' deals specifically with aging, creativity and death. The Hutcheons' short book is fascinating - fairly academic in tone but with plenty of background about the context of the composers' later years - and made me want to listen more attentively to their (and other composers') late works.   

Suntou Susso and the Gambian Superstars

2 July 2026

Last Friday we were at The Stables in Wavendon to see Suntou Susso and the Gambian Superstars. Suntou Susso is a Gambian griot in the tradition of the hereditary musicians whose songs chronicled history and tradition across the Mandé Empire of West Africa (like the late great Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, reviewed here in May 2008). Suntou Susso is a singer, songwriter and kora player with a very likable personality. He had the audience up dancing, almost from the start, on one of the hottest days of the year. He was backed by a very impressive six piece band of brilliant musicians, playing a mixture of traditional and contemporary instruments, who are clearly having lots of fun. It was mostly fast and frantic dance music: one tune with a slightly slower reggae beat provided a nice contrast. I also particularly enjoyed the couple of more contemplative solo pieces with Suntou Susso accompanying himself on kora. It was a very enjoyable evening that left the audience and the band smiling.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

23 June 2026

I've been a member of Northampton Symphony Orchestra for 26 years but last Saturday was the first time I can remember us dedicating a whole concert to a single piece of music. Any Gustav Mahler Symphony is a significant undertaking for an orchestra, but Mahler's 'Symphony No 3', which we played at St Matthew's in Northampton, brings some particular challenges. As well as being the longest of his symphonies, its six movements lasting around 95 to 110 minutes, it requires a massive orchestra, a mezzo-soprano soloist, a ladies choir and a children's choir. It was an amazing experience being one of 160 performers on Saturday (including an orchestra of more than 100 players).

NSO rehearsing Mahler 'Symphony No 3' in St Matthew's

I wasn't familiar with the 3rd symphony until we started to rehearse it and I found it quite difficult to appreciate at first. While there were clearly some beautiful, brilliant (and many seemingly impossible) passages, playing through one or two of the movements at a time they felt as if they came from completely different pieces. But as I got to know the symphony better I began to spot the use of common thematic material across the very different feeling movements and the work as a whole began to make more sense to me. Again I was reminded that there is no better way to understand and appreciate complex music than by playing it.

Flugelhorn solo from the balcony

Although there are plenty of tricky passages for the first horn player, Mahler 3 doesn't feature the substantial horn solos that terrified me when we played Mahler 6 in 2011 (reviewed here in November 2011). In the third symphony, while challenging solos throughout the orchestra were impressively conquered by NSO players, the limelight belongs to three instruments that have lengthy, exposed solos. John Whittall gave a fantastic performance of the commanding operatic trombone solo in the first movement. And Dan Newitt's beautiful Flugelhorn solo in the third movement, played from high up in the balcony at the back of the church, was stunning. But I would also like to praise the incredibly delicate, quiet bass drum solos that punctuate several sections of the symphony, played carefully and precisely by Henry Taylor.

Mezzo-soprano Rachel Roper was wonderful in the fourth and fifth movements. And the children's choir from the Malcolm Arnold Academy and ladies' chorus from the Northampton Bach Choir, directed by Simon Toyne, added a magical feel to the fifth movement.

NSO conductor John Gibbons deserves huge congratulations for pulling this enormous piece together and guiding us through a very impressive performance - and for conducting the whole symphony with one hand, with his left arm in a sling following a recent accident.

I suspect any performance of Mahler's 'Symphony No 3' feels like a significant event. It was amazing to be in the room to hear it live, let alone to play a part in the performance, and it was wonderful to be part of a brilliant horn section of nine players. I think our realisation of this massive undertaking was a triumph and I really enjoyed it.

NSO Horns

Afterwards, one member of our audience told us she was overwhelmed, saying "It's my absolute favourite piece of music and I never thought I would hear it live." This is an important reminder of the role amateur orchestras play in sharing lesser performed music with local audiences. While our performance of Mahler's 'Symphony No 3' definitely included a few minor mistakes (from me at least), it was much more exciting to hear it live than to listen to a recording.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

28 April 2026

Last Saturday's Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert at Spinney Theatre in Northampton was the third time we have played with the brilliant young pianist Julian Chan. Following stunning performances of the ‘Piano Concerto No 5’ by Saint-Saens (reviewed here in February 2023) and Amy Beach’s ‘Piano Concerto’ (reviewed here in July 2024), Julian joined us again on Saturday to play Rachmaninoff's 'Piano Concerto No. 3'. Julian gave a truly thrilling performance of this incredibly emotional showpiece, which received a rapturous reception from both the audience and the orchestra. It was a pleasure and privilege to accompany him. We started the concert with España - the popular rhapsody for orchestra by Emmanuel Chabrier. After the interval we played Arnold Bax's 'Symphony No 2'. In his pre-concert talk Eric McElroy, a trustee of the Sir Arnold Bax Society, told us that there were only two performances of Bax symphonies scheduled anywhere in the world this year - a performance of the Sixth Symphony in Tokyo a few weeks ago and our performance of the Second in Northampton. Writing in The Guardian a few days before our concert, Tom Service bemoaned the continued absence of Bax from the Proms schedule, saying: "There may currently be no less fashionable music than the hyper-romantic symphonies and orchestral works of Arnold Bax. The British composer’s music featured in pretty well every Proms season throughout the 1930s and 40s and early 50s, yet he has been the rarest of visitors to the Royal Albert Hall since then. When was the last Bax symphony heard at the Proms, you ask? 2011! Far too long for a fan like me." NSO performed Bax's First Symphony two years ago (reviewed here in March 2024) but the Second Symphony (completed in 1926) is a very different work. As we started to rehearse, it seemed incredibly challenging - chromatically unpredictable and rhythmically complicated. Yet the music felt romantic rather than avant-garde. I enjoyed getting to grips with the symphony - initially as an intellectual exercise but gradually coming to appreciate the piece as a whole. Bax draws on many different musical influences: there are elements of the symphony that sound like some of his contemporaries, including Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky and the Celtic-inspired music of Granville Bantock. But Bax mixes these styles to create a consistent and satisfying whole, with all the thematic material of the symphony introduced in the first section of the opening movement. And there are some beautiful passages, particularly at the beginning of the second movement. I think our performance on Saturday went really well, making sense of what had appeared to be a challenging piece and winning many of our audience over to Bax - a tribute to the excellent work of our conductor John Gibbons. The symphony starts and ends with the same slow melancholy cor anglais fanfare, wonderfully played by Harriet Brown, providing an unresolved epilogue at the end of the final movement as the music fades to silence. The conductor Vernon Handley, who recorded all seven Bax symphonies with the BBC Philharmonic, said: "He knows he's leaving the Second Symphony for something to be said in his next symphony". I'm looking forward to discovering what resolution awaits when we tackle Bax Symphony No. 3 in a couple of years' time.

Vienna

2 April 2026

We had a lovely time in Vienna last week, visiting the Schonbrunn Palace - the summer residence of the Hapsburgs - where we walked through the room where the six year old Mozart first performed for the Empress. We enjoyed the Gustav Klimt collection at the Belvedere Palace and walked through the Prater amusement park to see the famous Ferris wheel. We went to the Musikverein to see a great concert by The Orchestral Association of the Society of Friends of Music - Vienna's oldest amateur orchestra (founded in 1859 - 11 years before the Musikverein opened). We also visited the stunning Kunsthistoriches Museum and the Albertina - a lovely art gallery within a beautiful Hapsburg palace. We had a day trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, where the Old Town is very pretty, with pastel coloured buildings and open squares. We also went by train to the small town of Melk (population 2,000), set on the banks of the Danube in Lower Austria, which is dominated by the dramatic, imposing and enormous Benedictine Monastery, Sift Melk, which sits on a rock, high above the town. Back in Vienna we managed to get cheap standing tickets for the Vienna State Opera where we saw 'The Bartered Bride'. We were in the ground floor standing area at the back of the stalls with a surprisingly good view. It was great to see the inside of the opera house and to see the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. You can see a few of my holiday photos here. 

'Songs of Stolen Children' by Daughters of Donbas

20 March 2026

Daughters of Donbas is a music and human rights project highlighting the stories of children who have been abducted from occupied regions in eastern Ukraine and taken to Russia. Led by the Ukrainian-Canadian singer Marichka, the Daughters of Donas debut album 'Songs of Stolen Children' is a beautiful, engaging and varied collection influenced by Ukrainian folk traditions, indie pop, jazz and tango. Haunting acapella female vocal harmonies are accompanied by a string quartet and traditional Ukrainian instruments including bandura and okaryna. The vocal harmonies reminded me of a range of other Eastern European folk-influenced music, including the Warsaw Village Band (reviewed here in September 2008) and the Eva Quartet from Bulgaria (reviewed here in February 2014). You can listen to the opening track of the Daughters of Donbas album at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrWmPhH3VWk  

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

3 March 2026

Our Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert at Spinney Theatre last Saturday featured four pieces by American composers, all written in the 1930s and 1940s, celebrating The Jazz Age and The Golden Age of Hollywood. We opened the concert with Aaron Copland's 'Quiet City' - a remarkable piece for string orchestra with solo parts for trumpet and cor anglais, brilliantly played by NSO members Terry Mayo and Harriet Brown. William Grant Still's 'Symphony No 1: Afro American' was the first symphony by an African American composer to be performed by a major orchestra ion the USA (in 1931). It's a lovely work which pairs up-beat jazz with achingly emotional blues-inspired melodies. I particularly loved the gorgeous slow opening of the final movement with its powerful descending bass line in the tuba. The composer Ferde Grofé is now best remembered as the orchestrator of 'Rhapsody in Blue' by George Gershwin and for his popular 'Grand Canyon Suite'. I hadn't previously encountered his suite '6 Pictures of Hollywood' and enjoyed discovering this comic peak backstage at the making of an imaginary 1930s film musical. Our finale was 'Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture' - Robert Russell Bennett's medley of the classic songs from George Gershwin's folk opera. It's a great arrangement which revels in the wealth of Gershwin's melodies (including 'Summertime', 'Bess, You is My Woman Now', 'I Got Plenty of Nuttin' and 'It Ain't Necessarily So') and toys with the listener - three times sounding as if it has come to a conclusion, only to segue into yet another famous tune. For our celebration of American Voices the NSO was swelled by three harps, four saxophones, banjo and an impressive array of percussion. Our Conductor John Gibbons wonderfully slotted the many jigsaw pieces together on the day: in the concert I think all four pieces were the best we had performed them. But this concert belonged to Terry and Harriet - not only playing their beautiful solo parts in 'Quiet City' but appearing to dominate the rest of the programme too. Both the 'Afro-American Symphony' and 'Porgy and Bess' open with cor anglais solos (followed by a trumpet solo in the Gerswhin) and these and the Grofé feel like showpieces for the trumpets. This really was a fun concert and the cheer from the audience at the end of 'Porgy and Bess' felt well-deserved. 

'Willows' by Pekka Kuusisto, Sam Amidon and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

27 February 2026

Regular readers will know of my long-standing enthusiasm for all things Finnish, so I was immediately intrigued by the new album 'Willows' featuring the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the brilliant Finnish violinist and conductor, Pekka Kuusisto. This is, in part, a poignant reflection on grief and loss following the death of Pekka’s brother Jaakko in 2022. Ellen Reid’s 'Desiderium', a visceral howl for solo violin, is dedicated to him and is a deeply moving experience. The centrepiece of the album is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 'The Lark Ascending'. When the Northampton Symphony Orchestra performed this delicate English work in 2013 (reviewed here in November 2013), I was struck by its aching poignancy. Kuusisto’s interpretation is fascinating: he describes his approach not as “deleting notes” but as “deleting ketchup”. By stripping away the lush romanticism often associated with the piece, he reveals its essential roots in the English folk tradition. The album also features Caroline Shaw’s 'Plan & Elevation', an orchestral version of her 2015 string quartet that maps out Washington DC’s Dumbarton Oaks estate. To close, Sam Amidon (who impressed me at the WOMAD Festival, reviewed her in August 2022) adds vocals, guitar, and banjo to six traditional American folk songs arranged by Nico Muhly. 'Willows' is a beautiful, compelling collection that blends classical and folk traditions. 

'A' Chailleach' by Kim Carnie

5 February 2026

I've been really enjoying the 'A' Chailleach', the new album by the young Scottish Gaelic singer Kim Carnie. She calls it "a concept record rooted in female folklore, spell work and hidden histories". Lom Carnie was awarded Gaelic Singer of the Year 2021 and this is her second solo album, following her 2022 debut 'And So We Gather'. Her gentle, catchy Gaelic folk/pop reminded me a lot of the music of Julie Fowlis (reviewed here in February 2006, April 2007 and May 2014), who features as a guest on one track here. I was particularly interested to hear of her cross-cultural collaborations with West African musicians and there is a track on this album featuring the Senegalese musician Sekou Keita (on kora and vocals). These are beautiful new songs by Kim Carnie, but rooted in the Gaelic folk tradition. 

Bedford Sinfonia concert

27 January 2026

On Saturday I was at All Saints Church, Queens Park, Bedford to play in the Bedford Sinfonia concert, conducted by Ian Smith. It's more than 10 years since I last played with the orchestra (accompanying a Bedford Choral Society concert, reviewed here in November 2015). Saturday's concert was a programme of pieces by female composers. We started with Ethel Smyth's Overture 'The Wreckers' - which was, for a long time, the only orchestral piece by a female composer in the repertoire of many orchestras. I enjoyed discovering the 'Gaelic Symphony' by Amy Beach (whose piano concerto we played with Northampton Symphony Orchestra a couple of years ago, reviewed here in July 2024). The second half of the concert featured the 'Overture' by Fanny Mendelssohn, followed by 'Symphony No 1' by Florence Price - the first work by a Black woman composer to be performed by a major US orchestra. I had seen a performance of the symphony by the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival (reviewed here in September 2022) and it was great to get the chance to play it. I hadn't played any of the four pieces in Saturday's concert before. It was an interesting and entertaining programme - though quite a long, tiring concert to play. 

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

17 December 2025

The Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Christmas Cracker’ concert - a Sunday-afternoon, family-friendly performance - always features a narrated piece. This year we told two stories to our packed audience at the Spinney Theatre in Northampton. In the first half of the concert our compere William Thallon narrated 'Paddington Bear's First Concert' – in which Herbert Chappell creates an extensive theme and variations from his signature tune for the old BBC TV 'Paddington'. And after the interval William told the story of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ in a version by Lawrence Killian, with words by Margaret Killian. This year’s concert was a particularly Christmassy Christmas Cracker - with no film music and almost every piece featuring familiar Christmas carol tunes. It was billed as a British Christmas, focussing on works by UK composers, including ‘A Christmas Overture’ by Nigel Hess and Malcolm Arnold’s arrangement of ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ - but still finding room for our signature ‘Sleigh Ride’ by Leroy Anderson. It was a very slick, enjoyable concert, brilliantly held together by conductor John Gibbons and featuring excellent solos across many sections of the orchestra but I will particularly remember Helen Taylor’s beautiful flutter-tongue piccolo solo evoking Paddington’s Darkest Peru. 

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

18 November 2025

I have been a member of the Northampton Symphony Orchestra for 25 years but last Saturday’s concert was special for me as it was the first concert programme I was involved in choosing. I joined the orchestra’s programming committee in August 2024 to help to decide the repertoire for our 2025-26 season. As we approached the first concert of the season I was surprised how responsible I felt. In particular I had pushed for the inclusion of the ‘Sunrise Orchestral Suite’ by the Finnish composer Ida Moberg - which had been suggested by a member of the orchestra and I had really enjoyed listening to. Rehearsing the suite over the past 10 weeks I began to worry that it wasn’t quite as strong as I had thought, but it provided a beautiful opening to the concert and seemed to go down well with our audience at the Spinney Theatre in Northampton. 

Peter Donohoe, who joined us to play the Bliss Piano Concerto, has been one of the UK’s best known pianists since winning the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow in 1982. I played the Grieg Piano Concerto with him as a member of the Didsbury Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in 1983. So it was fascinating to discover that his first performance of the Grieg Concerto was in the Spinney Theatre in 1977 - the year it opened. The last time Peter Donohoe played with NSO was in our 125th anniversary concert at the Derngate in June 2019 when he performed Tchaikovsky’s ‘Piano Concerto No 2’. I remember the final movement as a frenetic romp with Peter Donohoe racing the orchestra to a thrilling finish. Sir Arthur Bliss is now best remembered for his music for the 1936 science fiction film ‘Things to Come’. His Piano Concerto was premiered in 1939 in Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. It was dedicated “to the people of the United States of America” and shows significant American influence, including echoes of Gershwin and Korngold, as well as a touch of Stravinsky and some recognisable appearances of the march theme from ‘Things to Come’. It is a spectacular showpiece concerto with two muscular outer movements and a beautifully delicate slow movement. Peter Donohoe gave a stunning performance and our conductor John Gibbons did a brilliant job of holding this complex piece together. There were excellent duets with the piano from Corinne Malitskie (‘cello), Richard Smith (violin) and Keith Crompton (timpani). It was wonderful to hear, after the concert, that Andrew Burn, Chair of the Bliss Trust, was astonished by the quality of the orchestra. As an encore Peter Donohoe treated us to the ‘Intermezzo in A major op.118 no.2’ by Brahms - an achingly beautiful performance that moved many of us to tears. 

We completed the concert with Dvořák’s ‘Symphony No 8’, which I have always adored as it was one of the first symphonies I played on joining the Didsbury Symphony Orchestra in my teens. I can still remember our conductor telling us, definitively, that the third movement of the symphony is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. Whether or not you agree, the confidence of his statement made a big impression on me as a teenager. It was lovely to rediscover this gorgeous symphony - a great way to show off the wonderful NSO ‘cello section (though the haunting opening unison theme in the first movement is played by the horns, 1st clarinet and 1st bassoon as well as the ‘cellos). And there were many perfect flute solos throughout the piece by Graham Tear who always seems to make the most intricate passages sound easy. It was a really enjoyable concert and felt like one we will fondly remember for a long time. 

‘Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark’ by Gwenifer Raymond

19 September 2025

‘Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark’ is the new album by the Welsh guitarist and banjo player Gwenifer Raymond. It's a fascinating set of solo instrumental tunes that features compelling rhythms, hypnotically repetitious lines and some impressive fast picking. The tunes include echoes of Appalachian mountain music, some nods to slide guitar and a range of moods. She creates a fascinating sound world in which it's often easy to forget that the music is being generated by a single player. It's a lovely, unusual and engaging album. You can listen to the title track here.

NSO Play Weekend - Shostakovich 'Symphony No 4'

1 September 2025

Shortly after I joined Northampton Symphony Orchestra (NSO), in 2000, the orchestra ran a great one-day workshop with members of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on 'An Alpine Symphony' by Richard Strauss. I have since taken part in several similar workshops organised by Milton Keynes Sinfonia (reviewed here). These 'play-days' provide the opportunity to tackle a work that the orchestra would not normally be able to perform in a concert - because of its scale, complexity and the additional players needed. They are also very sociable occasions, bringing together the orchestra and guest players to practice, eat together and chat, usually finishing with a full performance of the piece. 

 

Last weekend the NSO ran its first Play Weekend - a two-day workshop on Dimitri Shostakovich's 'Symphony No 4' - for which we gathered a massive orchestra of 120 people. Like most of my NSO colleagues I have played the much more famous 5th Symphony several times (most recently with NSO, reviewed here in November 2016) and a few of Shostakovich's other symphonies but I had never even heard the 4th before. In 1936, when Shostakovich's opera 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk' (described by Pravda as “muddle instead of music”) was banned, apparently at Stalin's behest, the composer assumed it was only a matter of time before he would be forced to surrender his life. His 'Symphony No 4', which was then in rehearsal for its first performance, was quickly withdrawn. Instead Shostakovich produced 'Symphony No 5', subtitled ‘A Soviet Artist's Response to Just Criticism’ - a stunningly powerful symphony that appeared to conform to the Soviet state's requirements for triumphalist music (though with many cleverly concealed elements that provide a cynical sting in the tail). The 4th Symphony didn't receive its premiere until 1961. [The Origin Story podcast recently produced an episode on 'Shostakovich and Stalin – The Composer and the Dictator' which gives an overview of Shostakovich’s life in a clear, accessible way - reviewed here in August 2025.]

 

'Symphony No 4' is a long, complex piece. At first it feels brutal, angry, strident and quite difficult to listen to. But as I have got to know it better over the past few weeks it has really grown on me. It's a fascinating work full of contrasts and contradictions, with moments of gentle beauty, lyricism and playfulness alongside its terrifying sheer power. Beginning to appreciate its homage to the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, and Shostakovich's reverence for JS Bach, helped me make more sense of its structure and themes. Above all, you need to think about the context of Stalin's Soviet Union to understand both the angst and the occasional whimsy of the music and I was grateful to have read 'The Noise of Time' by Julian Barnes (reviewed here in March 2016) which outlines how Shostakovich found himself a reluctant collaborator with Stalin's regime.

 

The NSO Play Weekend attracted guest musicians from far afield, including players from Newcastle, Norwich and Shrewsbury and one of my fellow horn players who was visiting the UK from Kentucky. It was wonderful to be part of a powerful section of 9 horn players. It was also lovely to see several former NSO members rejoining us for the weekend. I found it a really enjoyable experience - a great mixture of challenging music-making, alongside excellent food and a very friendly atmosphere. Congratulations to everyone involved in organising the weekend - a huge and complicated event which was ingeniously designed and went incredibly smoothly. 

 

There were so many outstanding performances across the orchestra it would be risky to try to name them all for fear of missing some. I particularly enjoyed the 'ticking clock' percussion at the end of the middle movement, the great use of duetting tubas, and the double sets of timpani at the climax of the last movement. But the standout for me was our principal bassoon Sian Bunker, returning to the orchestra after a break, who sounded fantastic in the symphony's many bassoon solos.

 

Our full performance of the symphony on Sunday afternoon felt truly epic and emotional. Being part of such a huge collective endeavour - as one member of a team of 120 people - was very special. NSO Conductor John Gibbons expertly guided us through an impressive rendition of the piece which may have included a few mistakes but avoided any major pitfalls and held together well through its full 65 minutes. Afterwards many of the wind and brass players admitted they were holding their breath while the strings played the impossibly challenging lengthy frantic fugue passage, but it went amazingly well - a real triumph of concentration and counting.

 

The climax of the final movement was a thrilling moment of brilliance but its quiet surrender to the gentle melancholic ending of the symphony was truly stunning. In 'The Noise of Time' Julian Barnes talks about Shostakovich's use of the musical instruction 'morendo' (dying away), pointing out that "few composers finish their lives with a major chord played fortissimo". The long silence that John Gibbons held, following the final quiet chord of the 4th Symphony, was poignant and devastating. I felt proud of what we had achieved, in awe of Shostakovich and utterly exhausted. I can't wait for the next NSO Play Weekend.

 

 

Edinburgh Festivals 2025

29 August 2025

We had a great time at the Edinburgh Festivals last week, seeing 21 shows across a wide variety of genres, topics and venues. There were many highlights but I'll just mention a few favourites:

'Down to Chance' is a great piece of fringe theatre from the Cornwall-based theatre company Maybe You Like It. A two-hander with Ellie Jay Cooper (also the writer) and Robert Merriam playing multiple roles, it tells the story of the Great Earthquake that hit Anchorage, Alaska, on Good Friday 1964. The earthquake took out all communications apart from the local radio station, where female reporter Genie Chance was left in sole charge, broadcasting through the night to reunite missing people and coordinate the volunteer efforts. A gripping true story, entertainingly told.

'Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence' by West Australian company Crash Theatre Co. and House of Oz reimagines the Scottish play as the story of a high school netball team. ‘Mac’ is determined to become captain of the team, even if it means dispensing with her teammates by murdering their reputations. It's great fun, and very silly, but the occasional actual Shakespearean speeches are surprisingly moving.
'The Queen Is Mad' is a musical/chamber opera, by Amy Clare Tasker and Tom James McGrath, about Joanna, elder sister of Catherine of Aragon and daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, who inherited the thrones of Castile and Aragon but was prevented from ruling either by her father, her husband and her son who imprisoned her, claiming she was mad. It's beautifully sung by a cast of three, featuring Maria Coyne as Joanna, and a fascinating piece of history.  

We were very lucky to see the Aurora Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Collon, at the Usher Hall, playing Shostakovich's 5th Symphony from memory. Memorising this titanic work for a huge orchestra is an incredible feat but it's not just a party trick. The whole orchestra standing, without any music stands, and moving with the music, was an amazing sight. And it sounded fresh and incredibly exciting. They had played the symphony at The Proms in London a few days before and it's well worth watching on BBC iPlayer, but it only gives you a flavour of the live experience. It was a thrilling performance. 

'Origin Story: Shostakovich and Stalin – The Composer and the Dictator'

15 August 2025

2025 is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. I’m currently preparing to take part in a Northampton Symphony Orchestra weekend workshop at the end of August which will see an orchestra of nearly 120 players tackling Shostakovich’s massive ‘Symphony No 4’. And next week I’m going to see the Aurora Orchestra performing Shostakovich’s ‘Symphony No 5’ (from memory) at the Edinburgh International Festival. So I’ve been reading a lot about Shostakovich and the extraordinary challenges he faced as a composer in Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union. I particularly enjoyed a recent episode of the ‘Origin Story’ podcast on ‘Shostakovich and Stalin – The Composer and the Dictator’. Presenters Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt give an overview of Shostakovich’s life in a clear, accessible way which doesn’t require much knowledge of classical music. They refer to Julian Barnes’ novel about Shostakovich, 'The Noise of Time' (which I reviewed here in March 2016) and Armando Iannucci’s 2017 film ‘The Death of Stalin’. They also tell the incredible tale of the first performance of Shostakovich’s ‘Symphony No 7’ in the Leningrad Philharmonic Hall during the siege of Leningrad in 1942, which I learned about when I played the Leningrad Symphony with Northampton Symphony Orchestra in 2013 (reviewed here in November 2013). You can listen to the podcast here.