Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

9 November 2010

When I did A-level music, one of the set works was Richard Strauss’ ‘Four Last Songs’: I can remember my music teacher worrying about the decision of the exam board to expose emotional, exam-stressed, teenagers to this melancholy reflection on morbidity. He needn’t have worried on my account: I am immensely grateful for this early discovery of Strauss’ masterpiece, which is now one of my favourite pieces of music and which seems to grow more perfect each time you hear it. It’s achingly sad: I will long remember watching the broadcast of this year’s BBC Proms performance by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, which ended with the Finnish soprano, Karita Mattila, staring forward, immovably, into space after singing her last note, her eyes filling with tears. I was not the only member of the Northampton Symphony Orchestra welling up during our performance of the ‘Four Last Songs’ in Northampton on Saturday. Young, local singer, Katherine Crompton, who is currently studying for a Performance Masters at the Royal College of Music, gave a beautiful performance. And it was a huge pleasure to welcome back our principal horn player, David Lack, whose seat I have been keeping warm during his absence through illness. It was wonderful to be able to leave the nerve-racking horn solo at the end of the second song, ‘September’, to Dave who played it exquisitely in his first appearance with the orchestra for 18 months. Not that my nerves were completely off the hook as I took the horn solo at the end of the first movement of Brahms’ ‘Symphony No. 2’ – one of those moments that, as a player, is both enjoyable but also a great relief when it’s over! The second symphony is a cheerful, Beethovenian work which I hadn’t played before. We opened with a powerful performance of Wagner’s ‘Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg Overture’. It feels like the NSO is really developing under the baton of Alexander Walker: it was a great concert.

'Side Show' by The Burns Unit

5 November 2010

Having first met at a Scottish Arts Council funded songwriting retreat in rural Scotland, the unlikely folk-rock-rap supergroup The Burns Unit (pun intended) have created a wonderful first album ‘Side Show’. The (mostly Scottish) Burns Unit are folk singers Karine Polwart (reviewed here in November 2005, April 2006 and April 2008) and Kenny Anderson, former Delgados singer Emma Pollock, rapper MC Soom T, Indo-Scottish bassist Future Pilot AKA, instrumentalist Kim Edgar, drummer Mattie Foulds and pianist Michael Johnston. The result of their collaboration is a varied collection of songs that manage to maintain a coherent overall identity. Some songs could have come straight from a Karine Polwart album (which is no bad thing at all) but the most interesting tracks are those that combine the disparate styles of the contributors – my favourites being those featuring the raps of MC Soom T.

'The Habit of Art’ by Alan Bennett

28 October 2010

Last Friday we were at Milton Keynes Theatre to see the National Theatre production of Alan Bennett’s latest play ‘The Habit of Art’. My expectations were high, as I had been looking forward to seeing how Alan Bennett and director Nicholas Hytner would follow their success with ‘The History Boys’, but I’m afraid I was a bit disappointed. ‘The Habit of Art’ deals with a meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten in their later years to discuss Britten’s new opera, ‘Death in Venice’. But this is actually a play within a play as ‘The Habit of Art’ is set within a National Theatre rehearsal room, showing the actors who will play Auden and Britten rehearsing their lines. This allows for constant interruptions from the stage manager, other actors and the play’s fictional author which creates some clever ambiguities as the ‘actors’ move seamlessly in and out of character. There’s plenty of the dry humour you expect from Bennett and the complexities of integrating this framing device are impressively achieved. But I found the result a little too self-conscious and a bit lacking in plot to drive it forward. In ‘The Lady in the Van’ Bennett famously put two ‘Alan Bennetts’ on stage: in ‘The Habit of Art’ it seemed like there at least four Alan Bennetts vying for our attention (the ‘author’, Auden, Britten, and their biographer, Humphrey Carpenter). Nevertheless, the cast were excellent, particularly Desmond Barrit who had great fun playing Richard Griffiths as ‘Fitz’ as WH Auden.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

21 October 2010

It is the proud boast of the Northampton Symphony Orchestra that the composer Sir Malcolm Arnold played trumpet in the orchestra as a schoolboy in Northampton. So it was particularly fitting for us to be invited to perform in St Matthew’s Church last Saturday as part of The Official Malcolm Arnold Festival 2010. We joined forces with the Abingdon Choral Society under the baton of our mutual conductor Alexander Walker to tackle Arnold’s rarely performed large-scale choral and orchestral work ‘Return of Odysseus’. Perhaps not his greatest work but it was a very interesting experience, and featured some impressive solos from members of the choir. We also performed the Concert Suite from Malcolm Arnold’s ballet ‘Sweeney Todd’. This was also a new piece to me and seemed more quintessentially Arnold with some great tunes, dramatic effects and tongue firmly in cheek. ‘Sweeney Todd’ combines dark menace with the cheery spirit of music hall: it was an effective and exciting performance that seemed to be greatly appreciated by an enthusiastic audience of Malcolm Arnold aficionados.

'Hedonism' by Bellowhead

15 October 2010

I was very excited to get hold of a copy of the new album from the brilliant English folk big band Bellowhead (reviewed here in October 2006 and February 2009) this week. ‘Hedonism’ is the band’s third album and it doesn’t disappoint. Bellowhead continue to push the boundaries of their own peculiar sub-genre, enlisting the help of experienced rock music producer John Leckie, and ‘Hedonism’ has a more varied and experimental feel than its predecessors. But the characteristic Bellowhead swagger is still strongly in evidence and the best tracks sound engagingly familiar, even on the first listen. I’m not sure all the diversions into jazz and funk completely work (strangely the semi-spoken rendition of ‘the Hand Weaver and the Factory Maid’ reminds me of ‘Shopping for Clothes’ by The Coasters – not typical territory for an English folk song!). But the best of ‘Hedonism’ is Bellowhead at its best: the impossibly catchy opening track ‘New York Girls’ is a perfect example. Tap, whistle, stamp, sing, dance: you know you want to!

The Brickhill Messiah

8 October 2010

The area just to the South and East of Milton Keynes is known as the Brickhills. Long before the development of Milton Keynes, these villages boasted a strong choral tradition linked to the local churches. In 2007 a group of local residents, many of whom take part in amateur music groups in Milton Keynes and Northampton, established Music in the Brickhills to present live music in the Brickhill villages in order to raise money for local and national charities. On Saturday we were at St Mary’s Church in Great Brickhill to see the fourth annual Brickhill Messiah. Handel himself developed the idea of charity performances of his oratorio, perhaps the best known of which were his annual fundraisers for the Foundling Hospital. So we felt part of a venerable tradition as we joined an enthusiastic local audience last weekend to raise money for nearby Willen Hospice. I had never been to a full performance of the Messiah before (well there are no parts for French horns!) and it was fascinating to discover such a well known work for the first time. It’s a mammoth undertaking and the Brickhill Messiah was a very impressive achievement. Even with quite a few cuts, the performance lasted more than two and half hours (including an interval). All the soloists were amateurs, drawn from the chorus, and it was lovely to see them taking their opportunities to shine: it would be unfair to single anyone out but there were some really fantastic singers on show. The powerful chorus, including singers from the nearby Danesborough Chorus and Milton Keynes Chorale, created a wonderful sound and the final chorus (“Worthy is the lamb”) was a stunning finale. The band of local musicians was also of a very high standard. The performance was extremely enjoyable, its few rough edges merely reminding you what a challenge the Messiah is and making the many magic moments all the more special.

'Teechers’ by John Godber

29 September 2010

On Saturday we were back at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds to see the Hull Truck Theatre Company production of ‘Teechers’ by John Godber. ‘Teechers’ was written in 1987 (though it’s clearly been updated with references to mobile phones etc) and is a classic Hull Truck production with three actors playing a multitude of characters with a bare minimum of set and props but conjuring up a vivid picture of school life. Sitting historically and stylistically somewhere between a Joyce Grenfell monologue and Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’, ‘Teechers’ is funny, moving and extremely enjoyable.

‘Steel Magnolias’ by Robert Harling

29 September 2010

Last Friday we were at the TADS Theatre in Toddington to see ‘Steel Magnolias’ by Robert Harling. Having not seen the 1989 film, I came to the play without knowing what to expect and was very impressed. ‘Steel Magnolias’ is set in a beauty parlour in a small town in Louisiana in which six women meet, talk and have their hair done. Taking on the challenge of live hairdressing and manicures on stage while maintaining impeccable Southern accents is no mean feat for an amateur company but one accomplished very slickly by TADS. I liked the episodic nature of the play: there are four scenes between which months or years have passed and you have to read between the lines to work out what has happened to each of the characters since you last saw them. The script is very witty with some extremely funny lines, which makes the tragic finale all the more poignant – maybe a little overly sentimental but there certainly wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The beauty parlour set was beautifully realised with a random assortment of mirrors around and above the stage which provided wonderful tableaux of the characters from different angles, allowing you to see the faces of actors even when they had their backs to the audience. The TADS production was very well cast: I particularly liked Tricia O’Toole, who gave Shelby just the right mixture of knowingness and naivety, and Rachel Birks as the beauty parlour proprietor Truvy. Truvy is a short, blonde woman with high heels, big hair and a big bust: I wonder which part Dolly Parton played in the film?!

'Bus Stop' by William Inge

23 September 2010

The Theatre by the Lake in Keswick really is, as the name implies, right on the shore of Derwent Water. It’s a beautiful setting for a lovely auditorium which is home to an impressive repertory company which tackles a rotating, varied programme of plays over the summer months: as in Pitlochry it is possible to stay a week and see several plays. We saw William Inge’s play ‘Bus Stop’ – chiefly remembered for having been made into a film starring Marilyn Monroe. Inge knew Tennessee Williams and you can see his influence but ‘Bus Stop’ is a lighter, less intense work than the classic Williams plays. It’s a great dramatic premise: when a cross-country bus is held up by bad weather, the passengers have to spend the night in a diner in a small town in Kansas. This allows for a series of hushed conversations, leading to confrontations and revelations as the night wears on and the liquor flows. At first the play has a light, comic feel with broadly drawn cartoon characters. But as the story develops there is much more to it than you initially expect. ‘Bus Stop’ is a clever, sad and funny work with some dark undertones. It also boasts two great comic set-piece scenes in the second and third acts. The Theatre by the Lake production was very effective and extremely well-cast with Amy Ewbank just right as Cherie and Patrick Bridgman subtly stealing the show as the thoughtful cowboy Virgil. Cherie, the main character, is a ditzy, blonde night-club singer hoping to escape to a better life: at the interval I was amused to hear the woman sitting behind me ask her companion “which part did Marilyn Monroe play in the film?”!

Cumbria

23 September 2010

We had a great time last week exploring the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. We stayed at a cottage near Kirkby Stephen, ideally placed for both national parks, and enjoyed wonderful walks in the Eden Valley, Swaledale (along part of the Pennine Way), Cunswick Scar and the banks of Ullswater. We also made a long overdue first visit to the Theatre by the Lake at Keswick. We were particularly impressed by Farfield Mill at Sedbergh – a converted mill which now houses artist studios, heritage crafts demonstrations, a museum telling the story of the mill and a great café: it’s a clever and effective blend of contemporary and heritage crafts and visual arts.

‘Deaf Sentence’ by David Lodge

10 September 2010

I’ve just finished reading ‘Deaf Sentence’, the latest novel by David Lodge. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by David Lodge (‘Home Truths’ reviewed here in September 2009) and is was a pleasure to remind myself how much I like his style. ‘Deaf Sentence’ draws on his own experience of losing his hearing and provides a tragic-comic guide to the inconveniences of deafness. But the real theme of the book is death: this is fairly dark territory for David Lodge and it’s a very sad novel - though not without his trademark humour and lightness of touch. Despite the impending sense that all was not going to end well, it gripped my attention and I very much enjoyed the journey. ‘Deaf Sentence’ is a study of family relationships and an ailing parent and reminded me of the similarities between David Lodge’s novels and those of Anne Tyler (such as ‘Noah’s Compass’ reviewed here in May 2010) while also making me think of 'The Corrections' by Jonathan Franzen, 'A Spot of Bother' by Mark Haddon (reviewed here in June 2007) and 'The Promise of Happiness' by Justin Cartwright (reviewed here in January 2008). But with its academic setting and references to Catholicism it’s unmistakeably David Lodge. He wears his research lightly and I enjoyed the references to linguistics. ‘Deaf Sentence’ is another accomplished, entertaining, moving and thought-provoking novel by a master of the genre.

Edinburgh Festivals 2010

3 September 2010

We had a great week at the Edinburgh festivals: we managed to get to 24 shows, most of which were of a really high standard. Highlights included Midori playing Bernstein’s ‘Serenade’ with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the Usher Hall, the Aberdeen Performing Arts/His Majesty’s Theatre production of ‘Sunset Song’, adapted from the classic novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon by Alastair Cording, at the Assembly Rooms, and the Bear Trap Theatre production of ‘Bound’ by Jesse Briton at Zoo Southside. ‘Bound’ was a quintessential fringe theatre show – six men in sou'westers evoking the gritty reality of life on a fishing trawler in a tiny studio theatre, using only some chairs, a table and a swinging lightbulb with some great sea shanties interspersing the scenes. We also enjoyed the amazing juggling of Belgian clowns ‘Pas Perdus’ (thanks Kelly!), Canadian rapper Baba Brinkman performing hip-hop versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Kalevala and Beowulf, Tom Wainwright’s dream narrative ‘Pedestrian’ and ‘Invisible Atom’, Anthony Black's one-man show encompassing quantum physics, free market economics and philosophy – with hilarious consequences! Tim Crouch’s ‘The Author’ at the Traverse was a fascinating, impressive and deeply uncomfortable experience: two sets of raked seating forced the audience to face itself with no stage in between and there was a lot of silent uncertainty before actors planted in the audience began to reveal themselves and a story very slowly started to emerge in a disjointed and non-linear way. The show tests the patience of the audience – and several people walked out when we saw it. For those who persevered the narrative did come to a conclusion but one which was shocking and unsettling. ‘The Author’ is a very powerful piece of theatre that plays with the boundaries between actors and audience, fiction and reality.

‘Stuart: A Life Backwards’ by Alexander Masters

19 August 2010

I’ve been reading ‘Stuart: A Life Backwards’ by Alexander Masters, the fascinating, unorthodox biography of Stuart Shorter – a tale of life on the streets, prison, drugs, violence, self-harm and sexual abuse. Much of Stuart’s story is shocking and distressing but in Masters’ telling Stuart emerges as a compelling, funny, impressive and likeable personality – a triumph of finding the person amongst the problems. Masters intersperses the account of his own relationship with Stuart with the story of Stuart’s life before they met, told chronologically backwards. This gradual revelation unpicks the chain of episodes that have led Stuart to the situation in which we first encounter him. It’s an innovative approach which really helps you to understand the whole person but I also found the flitting backwards and forwards a little distracting. ‘Stuart: A Life Backwards’ is an amazing book – not quite like anything I have read before – not always easy reading but very effective at making you think about the whole nature of our society in very different ways. It’s funny how most of our debates about class tend to ignore the homeless underclass who see people who live on a council estate as ‘posh’.

'Inception' by Christopher Nolan

9 August 2010

I like a bit of ambiguity in a film: the trick is getting the right balance between telegraphing the plot and creating something so complex it is frustratingly unfathomable. For me, Christopher Nolan’s new film ‘Inception’ achieved just the right balance, starting by bombarding you with confusion then allowing you to gradually – and very satisfyingly – start to piece everything together before leaving you with a lingering soupçon of ambiguity. I really enjoyed Nolan’s breakthrough film, 'Memento' (reviewed here in February 2007) and he does seem to bring a refreshingly creative complexity to everything he does. ‘Inception’ involves Leonardo DiCaprio leading a team who go into someone’s dreams to plant an idea. The surreal nature of dreams within dreams works (once you get the hang of it) because it maintains its own strict logic. The special effects are amazing: as characters walk up walls and along ceilings, and streets full of buildings fold over on top of themselves, it all manages to appear ‘real’ rather than obviously computer-generated. And I loved what I hope were a number of knowing references and in-jokes – absolutely unessential to your struggle to comprehend the plot but terribly satisfying when you spot them. For example, a fleeting cameo from Pete Postlethwaite seemed to me to be a reference to ‘The Usual Suspects’, famous for its own puzzles about what is real and what is imaginary. And surely it wasn’t a coincidence that DiCaprio’s wife is played by Marion Cotillard, best known for her Oscar-winning role in ‘La vie en rose’, and the musical trigger DiCaprio’s team use to communicate to each other in the dreams is Édith Piaf singing ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’? These clever hidden references (and I bet there were heaps more I didn’t spot) reminded me of the allusions to Kate Bush lyrics in David Mitchell’s novel ‘number9dream’ – absolutely nothing to do with the plot but terribly pleasing when you notice them. ‘Inception’ is not an easy film to follow but it’s well worth the struggle – proper complicated!

‘Quartet’ by Ronald Harwood

3 August 2010

Last Saturday we were at Milton Keynes Theatre to see ‘Quartet’ by Ronald Harwood – a play about four aging opera singers meeting each other again in a retirement home for musicians and planning to reprise their famous performance of the quartet from Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’. It was cleverly written exploration of growing old and differing attitudes to aging – and provided great roles for a quartet of well-known actors of a certain age: Timothy West, Susannah York, Michael Jayston and Gwen Taylor. A gentle play and a little bit predictable but enjoyable and inspiring – and really made me want to see ‘Rigoletto’.

WOMAD 2010

27 July 2010

I had a great time at the WOMAD Festival at Charlton Park in Wiltshire last weekend. It was near-perfect festival weather – dry all weekend but not too hot. I saw 28 bands in total, ranging from the Cuban son of Sierra Maestra to the West African funk of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou from Benin, to the Pakistani devotional singing of Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali. There was a distinctly humorous flavour to this year’s festival which included lounge versions of ‘Ever Fallen in Love’ and ‘Blue Monday’ by the French group Nouvelle Vague, the politest singalong version you will ever hear of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ led by the excellent Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and the surreal experience of being part of a massive crowd singing ‘Stairway to Heaven’ with octogenarian world music original Rolf Harris! Rolf was on fine form, entering into a conversation with every heckler and signing ‘thank you’ to the sign language interpreter at the side of the stage who was struggling to translate the nonsense words and farmyard noises of one of his songs. I particularly enjoyed hearing the young Iraqui oud player Khyam Allami, accompanied by the amazing Italian master percussionist Andrea Piccioni who could make a tambourine (well actually a tambourella) sound like an entire drum kit. And I would have liked to have heard more of Kormac’s Big Band – the live hip-hop orchestra from Dublin who include a barbershop quartet alongside the eponymous DJ. I loved watching Takht Al Emarat – a group of seven very serious, straight-faced young men from the United Arab Emirates who played some lovely traditional classical music. I don’t think any of the musicians could speak English so the gaps between pieces were just a brief embarrassed silence but as the enthusiasm of the crowd grew, you could start to see a few smiles creeping onto the faces of the players and by the final rapturous reception they were beaming from ear to ear. It was also great to see the Bavarian group LaBrassBanda really working a huge festival crowd with their unique take on fast-pumping techno dance music played on trumpet, trombone and tuba. The incredible Staff Benda Bilili (reviewed here in November 2009) were on excellent form and it was good to see the late great Charlie Gillett remembered by having a stage named in his honour. But I think my two favourite performances were by Lepistö & Lehti and Chumbawamba. Accordionist Markku Lepistö and double bass player Pekka Lehti are former members of the Finnish band Värttinä and have created a lovely album (called ‘Helsinki’) of contemporary tunes drawing on the Finnish folk tradition. They are gently engaging performers and played a wonderful set on the BBC Radio 3 stage in the arboretum on Saturday afternoon. I had never seen Chumbawamba before but was completely bowled over by their appearance on Friday evening. Their ‘Tubthumping’ days are now a historical footnote (and they resolutely resisted many calls to perform their solitary hit) but they are still articulate, witty and strongly political. Incorporating traditional English folk songs, acapella voices, catchy tunes, radical messages and fascinating stories, they were excellent and I strongly recommend their 17^th album ‘abcdefg’ – “a concept album about music”.

Gilberto Gil

22 July 2010

Following the ‘Point of Culture’ debate at the Purcell Room on Wednesday, I made my way next door to the Royal Festival Hall, together with Alan Davey, Jude Kelly and my Points of Contact colleagues, to see the legendary Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil give a rare UK concert as part of the Southbank Centre’s ‘Festival Brazil’. Gil was a key figure in the Tropicália movement in the 1960s and spent time in London when exiled from Brazil by the military dictatorship. More recently, of course, he was the instigator of the Cultura Viva programme and its ‘Pontos de Cultura’ scheme which I visited Brazil in March to observe. But on Wednesday his performance was a celebration of forró – the high-tempo, rapid-fire dance music of Gil’s home territory of the North East of Brazil. He also included a few examples of something I think he called ‘shott’ – a corruption of ‘Scottish’ – which blends forró with European folk dance music to create a strange Brazilian version of Scottish country dance tunes: bizarre, surreal but still incredibly cool. Forró is infectious, toe-tapping music featuring the distinctive syncopated tinkling of a triangle, with accordion, violin, banjo, guitars and drums. Gil’s version is turbo-charged forró with electric guitars and a rock flavour but it still has that traditional rural party-music feel – a little like rockabilly. There was some jeering from fans upset at not hearing Gil’s greatest hits: imagine going to see a Paul McCartney concert only to discover that he wasn’t going to play any Beatles songs but was going to do 2 hours of skiffle (but actually, wouldn’t that be amazing?!). Gil is a bit Paul McCartney, a bit Bob Marley, a bit Chuck Berry and a bit Nelson Mandela. For all his legendary status as sixties pop icon and exiled political activist, it is hard not to keep returning to Gil’s appointment as Minister of Culture in President Lula’s first government. As Gil jigged his way across the stage, a little grandfatherly but still incredibly cool, I couldn’t decide whether it was more amusing to imagine a British rock star becoming a government minister or to picture a government minister dancing in front of a packed Festival Hall audience.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

20 July 2010

On Sunday I played in the annual Northampton Symphony Orchestra Friends’ Concert – a free bonus concert for subscribing ‘Friends’ of the orchestra. This is always a nice way for us to say thank you to the people who have supported us throughout the year and for us to feature particular sections of the orchestra. I really enjoyed Sunday’s programme which included Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ (for brass and percussion), Elgar's ‘Introduction and Allegro for Strings’ and the ‘Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments’ by Richard Strauss as well as the ‘Karelia Suite’ by Sibelius and Rossini's overture to ‘The Thieving Magpie’. For a short programme it was surprisingly strenuous, particularly in a very hot theatre, but I think all the pieces went well and it was a lovely way to round off our 2009-10 season.

'Bedroom Farce' by Alan Ayckbourn

20 July 2010

On Saturday evening we were at Milton Keynes Theatre to see Peter Hall’s Rose Theatre, Kingston, production of Alan Ayckbourn’s 1976 play ‘Bedroom Farce’. Set in three contrasting bedrooms, all seen next to each other on the stage, this is a cleverly constructed comedy which features four couples so that someone is always out of place. A variety of devices are employed to create reasons why people end up in each other’s bedrooms but ‘Bedroom Farce’ isn’t really a bedroom farce at all in the conventional sense. Like most Ayckbourn plays it deals with ordinary people in a domestic setting and is concerned with relationships at different stages of development. As well as being very funny, ‘Bedroom Farce’ is suffused with typical Ayckbournian poignancy and it’s easy to recognise aspects of yourself and your own relationships in all four couples. Setting all the action in three bedrooms is a model that was developed to great effect by Andy Hamilton in his ‘Bedtime’ TV drama series but Ayckbourn was doing it 30 years earlier.

Milton Keynes International Festival

20 July 2010

On Friday we were at the opening evening of the first Milton Keynes International Festival. We started with a visit to ‘The Magical Menagerie’ (‘Le Manège Carré Sénart’), the latest fantastic Artichoke production created by François Delarozière and his company La Machine who were responsible for ‘The Sultan’s Elephant’ that transfixed the streets of London in 2006 and the giant spider, ‘La Princesse’ that was a seminal moment in Liverpool 2008. ‘The Magical Menagerie’ is a spectacular variation on the traditional fairground carousel. Life-size models of a bull, a buffalo and other animals rotate while giant insects circle them in the opposite direction and brightly-coloured fish rise up to the roof. Each seat on the carousel is equipped with a lever which you can use to move the head, tail, eyes etc of the relevant creature. The whole machine resembles an exaggerated Victorian automaton. It’s bizarre, beautiful, fascinating and completely captivating.

Next we ventured into the darkened interior of the former Sainsbury’s supermarket to see ‘Asleep at the wheel …’ an ‘immersive sound installation’ by Janek Schaefer. Entering this vast, unlit, low-ceilinged space, and walking towards a queue of parked cars with their hazard lights blinking, felt like entering an eerie, underground car park. You are encouraged to move from car to car, sitting in the back seats and immersing yourself in a confusing soundscape emanating from the car radios. You gradually realise from the snatches of spoken word amongst the music, static and sound effects that this work carries a strong message about environmental sustainability. But, for me, the attraction of ‘Asleep at the wheel …’ was the childlike excitement of exploring this spooky film-set rather than the message.

Finally we made our way to Campbell Park for ‘Full Circle’ by The World Famous with Terrafolk, an outdoor spectacular with music, lighting and fireworks. Terrafolk are a Slovenian turbo-charged folk group who I first saw some years ago at the Edinburgh Fringe. They are virtuoso musicians who mainly like to play it for laughs – always crowd-pleasers. In ‘Full Circle’ the four musicians were suspended in translucent pods which gradually opened to reveal them to the audience – which immediately conjured up memories of ‘This is Spinal Tap!’ (although in this case all four pods did open correctly!). We were then treated to a range of musical styles accompanied by stunningly beautiful fireworks and other effects. An odd mixture of sublime and ridiculous (particularly the death-metal version of ‘You Are My Sunshine’!) it was certainly a memorable performance. At times it felt very ‘prog-rock’ – you half expected Rick Wakeman to appear. But it was good fun and an interesting way to end our first experience of the Milton Keynes International Festival.

'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen, adapted by Laura Turner

12 July 2010

On Saturday we made the short journey to the gardens of Woburn Abbey to see an outdoor performance of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Chapterhouse Theatre Company. It was a perfect setting for a tale set in and around grand country houses and it was a beautiful evening to be entertained by the wit and wisdom of Jane Austen. The actors at these outdoor productions really work hard – having to project to be heard at the back of a large audience spread across the lawns and not getting any break as they spend the interval strolling through the crowds, selling raffle tickets and programmes while still resolutely in character (the Bennet girls clearly on the search for potential husbands in the audience!). Even the drawing of the raffle was done with Austenian flourish and those female members of the audience celebrating their birthday were called up to the stage for a kiss from Mr Darcy! It was a very enjoyable evening with fine performances, particularly from Hannah Lee as Elizabeth Bennet and Edwin Wright as Darcy.

City of Peterborough Symphony Orchestra concert

6 July 2010

On 24 June 1990 I played in the inaugural concert by the City of Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. The concert took place in Peterborough Cathedral, conducted by Antony Hopkins, and featured Rachmaninov’s ‘Piano Concerto No. 2’ played by Anthony Goldstone and the premiere of ‘Portrait of Peterborough’ by Amanda Stuart. It was very exciting to be a founder member of a new symphony orchestra and I soon got involved in the committee and became Chair of the orchestra in 1993. My involvement with the City of Peterborough Symphony Orchestra set me on the path that led eventually to becoming Chief Executive of Voluntary Arts. So I was delighted to be invited back to Peterborough Cathedral last Saturday to attend the CPSO’s 20^th Anniversary Concert – though the realisation that it’s been 20 years makes me feel extremely old! It was a splendid concert, with the orchestra giving a wonderful performance of Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 9’, conducted by Russell Keable and involving four local choirs. The Choral Symphony is a mammoth work and a major challenge for any orchestra. We first performed it with the CPSO in 1993, conducted by Norman Beedie, in the first of our annual ‘landmark’ concerts. Saturday’s performance was extremely impressive and the ending of the final movement was thrilling. There are only a handful of players left in the orchestra from my time in Peterborough, but it’s great to see it still going strong after 20 years. And lovely to see the indefatigable Steve Osborn and Jackie Over still driving the organisation. I’m looking forward to the 30^th anniversary concert already! (Read the Peterborough Evening Telegraph article at: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/lifestyle/culture_2_1843/music/celebrations_reach_a_crescendo_1_653796)

Wimbledon 2010

6 July 2010

We had a lovely day at Wimbledon last Friday. We saw both ladies’ doubles semi-finals (including the ladies’ singles finalist Vera Zvonereva) and both mixed doubles semi-finals on court one. There was some very entertaining tennis – particularly the mixed doubles match won by the eventual champions, Leander Paes and Cara Black. And we had plenty of sunshine and more than six hours of uninterrupted play. It was a shame to miss the men’s singles semi-finals, which were being played on centre court, but we were sat towards the back of court one and could hear the reactions of the crowd on Henman Hill and snatches of commentary from the big screen, so it was relatively easy to work out what was happening.

‘Inspector Drake and the Perfekt Crime’ by David Tristram

1 July 2010

The TADS Theatre Group’s performance of the gloriously silly ‘Inspector Drake and the Black Widow’ by David Tristram (reviewed here in April 2009) was one of my picks of the year for 2009. I was delighted to discover that Joe Butcher’s wonderful performance as Inspector Drake won him the NODA ‘Best Actor in a Play 2009’ award – extremely well-deserved. But I was even more delighted to see that Joe and Kevin Birkett were to reprise their roles as the Inspector and his dim-witted Sergeant in David Tristram’s sequel ‘Inspector Drake and the Perfekt Crime’. So last Friday we made the short journey to the tiny TADS Theatre in Toddington for another evening of excellent mockery of the murder mystery. It was a brilliant send-up of the genre, incorporating slapstick, visual gags, word-play and with “more twists in it than, well, a really twisty thing” – all excellently performed by a great amateur cast.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

24 June 2010

Mendelssohn’s music for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a delightful, tuneful, popular work but, for any French horn player, it conjures up fear as all that pretty, innocent music seems to be leading menacingly, and all too quickly, towards the terror that is ‘The Nocturne’! To be fair, the horn solo in the Nocturne is also a very pretty tune, but it’s a mountain to climb for a horn player: not technically that difficult but very long, requiring considerable lung capacity (like climbing a mountain actually!). I was relieved to discover that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was to be the first item on the programme at last Saturday’s Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert, giving me a chance to conquer its peaks while still reasonably fresh. And I must have practised playing through the Nocturne at least 100 times over the past 7 weeks, so I was well prepared. In the end, I got through it without any major problems. I’m sure some notes were a little strained as I began to run out of breath, but I think it went as well as it could have done and it was a great relief to get through it unscathed. Overall, I thought our performance of the Mendelssohn was pretty good. Indeed, the orchestra was in fine form on Saturday in what I think was our best concert since Alexander Walker took over as our conductor. The fabulous violinist Irmina Trynkos returned to give a dazzling performance of Chausson’s ‘Poeme’ and the ‘Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso’ by Saint Saens. And the concert concluded with an impressive and exciting performance of the ‘Symphonie Fantastique’ by Berlioz – including a truly beautiful cor anglais and offstage oboe duet at the beginning of the third movement by Peta Foley and Kathy Roberts. It was a long concert – tiring but exhilarating.

'The Little Stranger’ by Sarah Waters

18 June 2010

I really enjoyed ‘The Night Watch’ by Sarah Waters (reviewed here in January 2008) so I had been looking forward to reading her latest novel ‘The Little Stranger’ and I wasn’t disappointed. From the start you feel you are in safe hands: Waters is an excellent writer who seems to be able to create historical novels that feel as if they could have been written in the relevant period. ‘The Little Stranger’ is set in Warwickshire in 1947 with the country recovering from war, still constrained by rationing, anticipating the arrival of the new National Health Service and beginning to come to terms with a world that has changed forever. It tells the story of an aristocratic family struggling to maintain a once-grand, dilapidated country house, through the first-person narration of the local doctor. And very soon we seem to be entering classic ghost-story territory. But is ‘The Little Stranger’ a ghost story? Without any of the narrative tricks of ‘The Night Watch’, Sarah Waters has constructed a novel that appears to be a simple, spooky tale but subtly manages to say much about the changing social order at a turning point in history. Deceptively straightforward, there is considerable depth below the surface and your view of what the book is really about gradually evolves without you really noticing – while you are carried briskly through 500 pages of gripping, often chilling, narrative.

Denmark

18 June 2010

We had a lovely holiday in Denmark last week, despite less than wonderful weather. We stayed in central Copenhagen and did most of the tourist things - though we were surprised, after walking out to the harbour to see the Little Mermaid, to discover that the statue is currently in the Denmark pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai and has been temporarily replaced by a video screen showing live footage of Expo visitors walking past the Little Mermaid in sunny China! We took a trip to the North East of Zealand to Helsingor to see Kronborg Slot - the setting for Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' and also visited the former capital, Roskilde. We saw the site of a Viking fortress at Trelleborg and sampled the slightly tacky delights of the Tivoli Gardens (imagine Alton Towers compressed to the size of a postage stamp!). Denmark is an interesting place with a fascinating history and extremely friendly and helpful people.

‘Bang Goes the Knighthood’ by The Divine Comedy

4 June 2010

Mock operatic arias, jaunty music-hall ditties, sumptuous romantic melodies, sudden time-changes, concert-hall piano, strummed ukulele, orchestral strings, witty lyrics and corny rhymes: it can only be a new album by The Divine Comedy! The Divine Comedy (reviewed here in September 2005 and July 2006) returned this week with the wonderful ‘Bang Goes the Knighthood’. After Neil Hannon’s cricket-themed album 'The Duckworth Lewis Method' (reviewed here in July 2009) ‘Bang Goes the Knighthood’ takes us firmly back to the classic Divine Comedy sound. Arguably Hannon undercuts every moment of beauty he creates by being unable to resist the temptation to slip into whimsy. But when you love a band you tend to love the full package – both sublime and ridiculous. The beautiful highpoint of this album is the perfect foxtrot ‘Have You Ever Been in Love?’ but I’m equally taken with ‘The Lost Art of Conversation’ which manages to rhyme all of the following:

• a conversation
• David Jason
• Francis Bacon
• concentration
• League of Nations
• The English Patient
• imagination
• hallucinations
• Good Vibrations
• the Reformation
• transubstantiation
• Bram Stoker’s creation
• The Land of the Thracians
• time and patience

and, in case that wasn’t enough, also links Frank Lampard, Joan of Arc and Van Dyke Parks. Beat that!

Cider with Rosie’ by Laurie Lee, adapted by Daniel O’Brien

4 June 2010

We were at the Oxford Playhouse last Saturday to see the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds production of ‘Cider with Rosie’ by Laurie Lee – a new adaptation by Daniel O’Brien. An inventive, ensemble piece, with original music by T J Holmes, it uses six actors to play Laurie and his five siblings as well as every other character in the story. The whole cast is onstage throughout, adding sound effects or background action to scenes in which they are not the principal players. The effect is entertaining and amusing with much to admire in its stagecraft and some lovely songs. It reminded me of the stage adaptations of novels by Shared Experience which employ a similar physical ensemble approach. But I would have preferred more narrative drive: the approach was very episodic (in line with the book I assume, though I haven’t read it) and there was little to indicate the overall passage of time through Laurie’s childhood. As a play it grew on me but didn’t grip me, though it received a rapturous reception – I suspect there were plenty of fans of the book in the audience.

'Noah's Compass' by Anne Tyler

26 May 2010

Anne Tyler is an author who produces hugely entertaining, readable novels which are all much more clever and profound than they appear – tackling difficult subjects without creating difficult prose – something also achieved by David Lodge but not many others in my opinion. ‘Noah’s Compass’ is Anne Tyler’s 18^th novel and sees her returning to a familiar format after the more ambitious digressions of her previous two books, ‘The Amateur Marriage’ and ‘Digging to America’. Set, as always, in Baltimore ‘Noah’s Compass’ is a seemingly simple tale of family relationships, aging, loneliness and memory loss. It has much in common with one of Tyler’s most celebrated works, ‘The Accidental Tourist’ but shows, I think, a maturing confidence in her writing, relying much less on exaggerated comic characters and set-pieces. Like a stripped-down version of ‘The Accidental Tourist’ everyone is less extreme and more believable, less happens but the emotional interaction feels stronger. ‘Noah’s Compass’ is a short novel – the first book I’ve read at a single sitting for some time – but manages to be intriguing, funny and very moving. Less is more.

European Union Baroque Orchestra concert

26 May 2010

Before I start to praise the wonderful concert by the European Union Baroque Orchestra, which we were at St John’s, Smith Square, in London to see last Saturday, I should declare an interest. Our good friend Lindsay Kemp is the Artistic Director of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music and had programmed this concert as the finale to the 2010 festival. And it was wonderful. Regular readers may have deduced that baroque music is not one of my usual enthusiasms but I was enthralled by this look at the concerti grossi by Arcangelo Corelli. It helped to have attended a recording of BBC Radio 3’s ‘Discovering Music’ in the afternoon at which Stephen Johnson explained and analysed the three main works to be performed that evening, with the European Union Baroque Orchestra on hand to provide excerpts and examples. The concerto grosso was developed in Rome in the late 17^th century, and employs a small chamber ensemble (the concertino) contrasted with a full string orchestra (the ripieno). Corelli pioneered this form of music with his twelve published concerti grossi – three of which were the focus of Saturday’s concert. At the time he was writing them, it was unusual to expect an audience to listen to purely instrumental music that had neither words for singers nor a clear story to follow and most composers assumed that the attention span for such works was likely to be no more than five or six minutes. Corelli boldly stretched this duration by introducing recurring motifs to create a subtle impression of familiarity, even when listening for the first time. He also expanded the size of the orchestra, on at least one occasion using 76 string players. For Saturday’s concert the European Union Baroque Orchestra was augmented by a number of its former members so that there were around 50 people on the stage – what now seems like a massive number of players for a baroque performance. The EUBO draws together the best young baroque musicians from across Europe each year, with the majority of its alumni going on to perform professionally. On Saturday they were directed from the violin by the charismatic Italian soloist, Enrico Onofri, a fascinating figure on the stage – gangly and hairless, save for his dark, hooded eyebrows, dressed entirely in black but with a bright white scarf laced through the end of his violin and tied around his neck to support the instrument. Constantly moving to the music, nodding his head and, occasionally leaping in the air to push the young players forward, Onofri was a perfect example of the violin soloist as ‘rock star’ – perhaps suggesting the effect Corelli himself had in this role. At the time Corelli was writing, the violin was a relatively new instrument: the concept of the virtuoso violin soloist as the star, accompanied by an orchestra, was still being developed by Vivaldi and others. Most of Corelli’s concerti grossi feature a concertino with two violins and a ‘cello – the violins (here played by Onofri and Margaret Faultless) answering each other in a constant conversation. But Onofri undoubtedly stole the show. The enhanced EUBO created a marvellous sound and showed how exciting this early orchestral music is. A packed St John’s, Smith Square, was thrilled by the performance and the two encores that followed. It was a great concert.

BBC Young Musician 2010

21 May 2010

I said here in May 2006 that "I love the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition" but in May 2008 I felt it was a major disappointment “that the impact of this landmark musical event should be so watered down in its thirtieth anniversary year”. So I approached the BBC Young Musician 2010 with some nervousness to see whether full coverage of the competition had been restored after the debacle of 2008. Overall I was pleased and greatly relieved: the extensive coverage of the five category finals on BBC4 showed plenty of the actual performances, mostly uninterrupted, and the concerto final was broadcast live and in full. But clearly the wonderfully indulgent concert of five concertos is something that no longer warrants clearing the schedules, and the price of live classical music on BBC2 was a pruning of the format to only allow for three finalists. This meant the introduction of a semi-final in which the five category winners reprised their solo recitals in order for three to be chosen to perform concertos with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. I really felt for the two unsuccessful semi-finalists, who in any of the previous competitions would have taken their place on the final stage with the orchestra. It was very disappointing that, for the first time in 32 years, the final didn’t include a brass concerto. Nevertheless it was a wonderful concerto final with three fine performances and a clear and worthy winner. Regular readers will be amazed to learn that, for the first time in the history of the BBC Young Musician competition, I correctly predicted the winner! (Though I was only picking from three, rather than five contenders of course.) And all the broadcast performances were beautifully presented and excellently filmed – the BBC really does the visual presentation of classical music brilliantly well. In 2010 the BBC Young Musician competition regained a sense of dignity and I suspect it will long be remembered for the truly wonderful, astounding performance of Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 by the 16-year-old winner Lara Ömeroğlu. See for yourself at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s3fk5

‘Yes, Prime Minister’ by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn

21 May 2010

We returned to the main house at Chichester Festival Theatre for the opening night of ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ – a new play by the writers of the original BBC sitcom, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. David Haig and Henry Goodman took on the roles of Prime Minister Jim Hacker and Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby in a story which brought the action up-to-date with Hacker the leader of a coalition government in a hung parliament attempting to deal with a massive recession. There was some good fun to be had with the real political theatre of the previous few days with the insertion of a few last-minute gags, but in the main this was an enjoyable nostalgia trip back to the glory days of ‘Yes, Minister’. All the familiar elements were present – Sir Humphrey’s lengthy, erudite, obfuscating soliloquies (all the more impressive delivered live and flawlessly by Henry Goodman) and the naïve bewilderment of private secretary Bernard Woolley (here played by Jonathan Slinger). The addition of a modern ‘special advisor’ (played by Emily Joyce) and a few references to Blackberrys didn’t really alter the feeling that we were back in the 1980s. It felt like ‘The Thick of It’ had never happened (despite David Haig having appeared in the latest series). But it was good fun and there was a carefully constructed plot which made it feel like a proper 2-hour play. Haig and Goodman were both excellent but with neither attempting (quite correctly) any sort of impersonation of Paul Eddington or Nigel Hawthorne, I wondered why it was necessary to retain the original characters in this updated setting. I think the play would have worked as well with Haig as a different Prime Minister and Goodman as another variant on the long-serving civil servant (‘Sir Rupert’, perhaps). And I would have loved to see the two actors cast against type with David Haig as the civil servant and Henry Goodman as the politician.

'Bingo' by Edward Bond

21 May 2010

Our first ever visit to the Chichester Festival Theatre was to the smaller Minerva auditorium to see Patrick Stewart as William Shakespeare in Edward Bond’s 1974 play ‘Bingo’ which looks at Shakespeare’s final days in Stratford-upon-Avon. It was a high-quality production with an impressive cast but I wasn’t overly taken with the play. I was left with the feeling that I might have missed the point of what appeared to be a fairly miserable, factual tale. The historical detail was interesting but I found it to be a production to be admired rather than enjoyed. The high point was the appearance of Richard McCabe (who I last saw as Sir Toby Belch in ‘Twelfth Night’ reviewed here in November 2009) who stole the show with a single scene cameo as a Falstaffian Ben Jonson at the beginning of the second act.

‘I, Malvolio’ by Tim Crouch

21 May 2010

We concluded our visit to the Brighton Festival with a late night performance of ‘I, Malvolio’ – a one-man show written and performed by Tim Crouch. We’ve seen Tim Crouch a few times in Edinburgh and he is a completely compelling performer. Most of his work seems to blur the boundaries between actor and character and involves extensive interaction with the audience. He manages to be likeable, extremely funny and deeply unsettling. ‘I, Malvolio’ is his fourth exploration of Shakespearean characters, telling the tale of ‘Twelfth Night’ from Malvolio’s point of view – while constantly slipping in and out of character. An amazing, hilarious and strange theatrical experience – take any opportunity to see what Tim Crouch does next.

Brighton Youth Orchestra concert

21 May 2010

Our brief sampling of the Brighton Festival started with a great concert by the Brighton Youth Orchestra at St Bartholomew’s Church. Conducted by the indefatigable Andy Sherwood, the BYO were in fine form, opening with an impressive performance of the ‘Overture to Candide’ by Leonard Bernstein. But the concert was dominated by two very different soloists. The legendary bass, Sir John Tomlinson, joined the orchestra for the premiere of ‘Midnight Skaters’ by local composer Peter Copley – a beautiful, thoughtful piece. This was followed by the fascinating spectacle of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s ‘Earth Cry’ for orchestra and didgeridoo. The didgeridoo soloist Steve Heath (originally from Portsmouth rather than Australia!) created an amazing range of sounds and demonstrated an incredible feat of circular breathing. Sir John returned after the interval to sing excerpts from Mussorgsky’s ‘Boris Godunov’ – a powerful climax to a very enjoyable evening.

West Sussex

21 May 2010

We had a lovely week in West Sussex: we stayed at a cottage in Middleton-on-Sea and took advantage of some very good weather to do lots of walking, both along the coast and across the South Downs. We particularly liked the pretty towns of Arundel and Midhurst and small Cathedral City of Chichester and managed a brief excursion across to Brighton.

‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ by John Irving

7 May 2010

I first discovered John Irving’s 1989 novel ‘A Prayer for Owen Meaney’ through the excellent BBC Radio 4 dramatisation last year, in which Toby Jones created the distinctive voice of Owen Meany (which in the book is always IN CAPITAL LETTERS). Reading the novel for the first time I felt the ‘present day’ (1987) passages focussing on the Reagan administration and the Iran-Contra affair – which were largely omitted from the radio abridgement – seemed strangely dated and irrelevant in a way in which the main ‘historic’ story, told in flashback, didn’t. The various impacts of the Vietnam War on the principal characters – perhaps originally intended to sew warnings about Reagan-era foreign policy – now seem much more the centre of attention. ‘A Prayer for Owen Meaney’ is a great comic (and tragic) novel with some brilliant set-piece scenes (the Nativity Play is a beautifully-constructed and hilarious passage). Irving plays around with time, flashing forward and back as he gradually moving through the characters’ lives in chronological order. And he teases the reader remorselessly, constantly hinting at what is to come and drip-feeding key details to build the final picture. The final revelation takes so long to come that the anticipation almost becomes irritating but it’s so worth waiting for you finish the book in awe and with a smile on your face.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

28 April 2010

Arriving at the final afternoon rehearsal for last Saturday’s Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert, we were expecting to face the challenging prospect of playing the ‘Cello Concerto by Samuel Barber – an interesting but tricky piece which I suspect had been new to most of us. What we were presented with, however, was a challenge of a different nature: our ‘cello soloist had been taken ill and it had proved impossible to find a replacement who knew this rarely performed work. So, at the last minute, the violinist Irmina Trynkos, who is due to play with us in our next concert, agreed to perform the Bruch Violin Concerto. At 2.15 pm the music was handed out to the orchestra for the first time and by 8.30 pm we had completed a stunning performance of this much-loved concerto. It was an exciting, edge-of-the-seat experience – not without a few hairy moments but very enjoyable. I’m now really looking forward to hearing Irmina play the ‘Poeme for Violin and Orchestra’ on 19 June. The rest of Saturday’s concert was an American affair including ‘Three Dance Episodes from On the Town’ by Bernstein, ‘Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo’ by Copland and what I thought was a really good performance of Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris’ – a complex circus of a piece which came together wonderfully – and the car horns were great!

‘Dead Guilty’ by Richard Harris

23 April 2010

We had a few days in sunny Dorset last week and managed to fit in a visit to the Bournemouth Little Theatre Club to see a performance of ‘Dead Guilty’ by Richard Harris. This clever, psychological thriller was extremely well acted – a very high quality production – and kept us guessing to the end. Good to see BLTC, which has just celebrated its 90^th anniversary, going strong.

Phil Hammond

23 April 2010

Phil Hammond is a GP who has carved out an extensive second career as a comedian with regular appearances on Radio 4, a column in Private Eye and even a stint in the dictionary corner on Countdown! We saw him at the Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans at the beginning of a new national tour. He is a very slick performer: the material about his childhood and medical training seemed to be delivered with a speed and confidence that suggested it was far from the first time he had used it but it was still very funny. Phil Hammond is not a stand-up comedian who happens to be a doctor: almost all of his material is about the medical profession or the absurdities of the NHS. He clearly feels passionately about many of the current problems in the health service but at times his more serious rants sat slightly uncomfortably next to some of the comic set-pieces. Nevertheless he was impressive, assured and very funny.

'Here Lies Love' by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim

8 April 2010

One of the most bizarre aspects of visiting the Vigário Geral favela in Rio de Janeiro was spotting, on the wall of a small family restaurant in the heart of the favela, the signature of former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. I suppose it wasn't that surprising, knowing that Byrne is a good friend of Brazilian Tropicália singer Caetano Veloso and that Veloso is a key supporter of our hosts, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae, but it still seemed an incongruous intrusion in the extreme surroundings of the favela. I guess nothing should really surprise me where David Byrne is concerned: his latest album, launched this week, sees Byrne collaborating with Fatboy Slim to produce a disco song cycle about the life of Imelda Marcos - a concept that sounds as if it should have been released on 1 April rather than 6 April! Nevertheless the result is fabulous: 'Here Lives Love' features 22 (mainly female) guest vocalists taking turns to tell the story of the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines, and the woman who raised her, through the medium of disco - a reference to Imelda Marcos' love of nightclubs. And those vocalists include some of my favourite singers such as Natalie Merchant, Martha Wainwright and the sublime Allison Moorer. I've always appreciated David Byrne's taste in collaborators since learning that the backing vocals on his wonderful 1989 album 'Rei Momo' were by another personal favourite, Kirsty MacColl. The cast list on 'Here Lies Love' also features Cyndi Lauper, Tori Amos, Florence Welch, Róisín Murphy, Camille and Steve Earle as Ferdinand Marcos! The succession of female vocalists playing particular parts reminded me of 'God Help the Girl' (reviewed here in August 2009). But 'Here Lies Love' is unmistakably a David Byrne creation with the disco beats underpinned by his beloved Latin rhythms. A surreally infectious treat.

AfroReggae

30 March 2010

The favelas of Rio de Janeiro are desperate places – shanty towns where the rule of law is absent, dominated by drug traffickers and gangs, made even more shocking by their proximity to some of the most opulent parts of the city. In 1993 police killed 21 innocent people from Vigário Geral, one of the poorest favelas, in retaliation for the shooting dead of 4 policemen. In response to this tragic event, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae was created to offer young people from the favelas an alternative to a life of drugs and violence. AfroReggae began as a newspaper but soon started offering workshops in dance, percussion, circus skills and a host of other cultural disciplines. Controversially working with some of the major drug traffickers while also attracting major commercial sponsorship from companies including Santander and Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, AfroReggae has grown into a large and extremely successful organisation. We visited three of Rio’s favelas as guests of AfroReggae, being met and escorted at the entrances to each favela by some of the most brilliant samba drummers I have seen. We saw performances of dance, circus skills, percussion, drama, reggae, rock and orchestral music and had a question and answer session with AfroReggae founder Jose Junior. But the climax was undoubtedly a performance by the original Banda AfroReggae – now an internationally acclaimed group making a rare appearance back in the Vigário Geral favela. Banda AfroReggae are a mighty band – big, loud, funky and incredibly cool. Their music incorporates pop, rock, reggae, hip-hop and rap with Brazilian percussion: it’s fast, catchy and irresistible. Hearing Banda AfroReggae for the first time in a private performance in a small studio in the AfroReggae centre was an amazing experience – I’m a fan! You can see a report and photos on our visit to AfroReggae at http://www.afroreggae.org.br/2010/03/25/nucleos-de-vigario-complexo-e-lucas-recebem-visita-de-diretores-britanicos/, listen to AfroReggae on Spotify and see their remarkable story in the 2005 film ‘Favela Rising’.

Jards Macalé and Jorge Mautner

30 March 2010

The best known protagonists of the Tropicália movement are the musicians Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil – both exiled to London in the late 1960s by the Brazilian military dictatorship. While we were in Sao Paulo we were lucky enough to catch a concert by two of their contemporaries Jards Macalé and Jorge Mautner at Sesc Pompéia. Both singers are now about 70 years old and are clearly revered by what was a packed and enthusiastic audience. The Tropicália movement was based on ‘antropofagia’ – cultural cannibalism, taking in influences from a range of genres and creating something new and unique. Though undoubtedly revolutionary at the time I’m afraid that, to me, the music now sounds a little tame – gentle, beautiful and soothing like bossa nova without the beat. Not being able to understand the Portuguese lyrics is clearly a major hindrance in listening to songs with a strong political message. But it was fascinating to watch the rapturous reaction of the crowd who were mouthing the words to many of the songs and quick to their feet to give a standing ovation to these two legendary performers.

Hélio Oticica exhibition

30 March 2010

I arrived in Sao Paulo just in time to attend the opening of an exhibition on Hélio Oticica at Centro Cultural. Hélio Oticica’s installation ‘Tropicália’, recreated in this exhibition (complete with live parrots!), gave its name to the famous Brazilian art movement of the late 1960s. Entering the packed crowd of paulistas observing and engaging with the works of art was an exciting, intriguing and slightly intimidating experience. It was hard, at times, to distinguish between performers and audience, particularly as many of the pieces by, or about, Hélio Oticica were intended to be worn. Like much conceptual art it was easy to dismiss some pieces as pretentious or provocative, particularly without being able to read the (Portuguese) explanatory text, but it was an entertaining and intriguing afternoon.

'Hobo' by Charlie Winston

18 March 2010

I saw Charlie Winston, the troubadour from Suffolk, perform at Womad last July but I’ve only just managed to get hold of his excellent album ‘Hobo’. Winston sings catchy tunes with a confident swagger and tongue firmly in cheek. His voice reminds me in its occasional mock-opera moments both of Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy (reviewed here in September 2005 and July 2006) and David Byrne. These are upbeat, rhythmic and wryly amusing songs: I particularly like ‘My Life As A Duck’ but there are plenty of memorable tracks on the album.

‘Daughter of Fortune’ by Isabel Allende

18 March 2010

I’ve been reading ‘Daughter of Fortune’ by Isabel Allende, a family saga/epic thriller which starts in Chile in the 1830s before telling the story of the California gold rush. It’s a broad canvas which is historically fascinating and filmic in scope but I’m afraid it didn’t grab me and it’s taken me an age to finish it. Isabel Allende has a tendency to undercut the tension by suddenly flashing forward to the characters reminiscing about the current events many years later. I also felt there were odd changes in pace throughout the novel. I enjoyed the well-drawn characters and the settings but I feel I may have missed something.

Orchestra of St John's concert

8 March 2010

We were at Kings Place in London on Saturday for a concert by the Orchestra of St John's. The programme included 'Cantata No 51' by J S Bach, featuring the excellent young soprano Louise Wayman, and Haydn's 'Symphony No.44 - Trauer'. And it was very interesting to hear Handel's 'The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba' contrasted with Alec Roth's 'Departure of the Queen of Sheba'. Written in 1999, Roth's work uses material from the familiar Handel piece to create a beautifully moving wordless dialogue between the Queen (oboe) and King Solomon (cor anglais). It's a lovely, gently romantic piece of music and it was great to see the composer in the audience on Saturday. The small Orchestra of St John's (featuring only 19 players at this concert) were very impressive: tight, clear and precise, demonstrating how exciting classical music can be.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

3 March 2010

For the past few weeks my personal soundtrack has consisted of Rachmaninov’s gorgeous 3^rd Piano Concerto playing almost continuously in my head in preparation for last Saturday’s Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert. It’s a fantastic and fiendishly difficult piece of music and it was very exciting to be accompanying the amazing young Italian pianist, Marco Fatichenti, who gave an incredible performance on Saturday at the Spinney Hill Theatre in Northampton. Marco played many of the most challenging passages of the concerto incredibly fast and his thrilling unpredictability gave the orchestra and our conductor, Alexander Walker, some nerve-wracking moments. But it was a wonderful performance and Marco’s cadenza at the end of the first movement deserved a standing ovation on its own. Tchaikowsky’s ‘Symphony No. 1, Winter Daydreams’ seemed a little tame by comparison but, having conquered the challenge of the Rachmaninov concerto, I felt the orchestra relaxed a little in the second half of the concert and gave a very good account of the symphony.

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ byTennessee Williams

23 February 2010

We were at the Novello Theatre in London’s West End on Saturday to see ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ by Tennessee Williams. This was a great production, directed by Debbie Allen, with an excellent cast including Adrian Lester, Sanaa Lathan and Phylicia Rashad (Allen’s sister). But even amongst such impressive company it was undoubtedly James Earl Jones as Big Daddy who stole the show. Jones is a compelling physical performer, appearing to change body shape with the moods of the character. It was fascinating, for example, just to watch how he used his arms. And it was wonderful to hear his iconic, deep, booming voice fill the theatre.

Victoria & Albert Museum Medieval and Renaissance galleries

23 February 2010

On Saturday we visited the new Medieval and Renaissance galleries at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The exhibits are beautifully presented – there’s lots of space and light much like the refurbished Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (reviewed here in November 2009). I felt there was less of a coherent narrative than at the Ashmolean: the V&A tends to present historic objects as art. But the new galleries are visually stunning and there are some real gems to discover.

Five Star Swing

23 February 2010

Last Friday we were at Toddington Village Hall to see ‘Five Star Swing’ – an excellent five-piece jazz band including former members of the Herb Miller Orchestra and the Ivy Benson band. They played a mixed menu of swing and jazz standards including helpings of Sinatra, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington and much more. The band had a good line in banter and it was a very entertaining evening.

Tess May Tribute Concert

17 February 2010

Tess May was a French horn teacher who worked in the Milton Keynes area for more than 30 years. Tess died suddenly last year as a result of a stroke and last Saturday her friends, family, colleagues and pupils, past and present, gathered at Ousedale School in Newport Pagnell for a tribute concert to celebrate and remember Tess and to raise funds for the charity Headway and for a Milton Keynes Music Service Horn Scholarship. I played in a choir of massed French horns, including just about every horn player in the area. The concert also featured the Tess May Olney Brass Band and a full orchestral brass ensemble. Tess’s sons Tim and Peter played trumpet and euphonium solos and joined their father, Laurence, for an emotional encore. The climax of the evening was a performance of ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by Mussorgsky with everyone who had taken part in the concert playing ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’ – one of the loudest musical experiences you will ever hear! It was a wonderful evening – entertaining, eclectic and very moving: a great way to remember Tess. It was a privilege to be involved.

‘Roam’ by the Tom Dale Company

17 February 2010

Last Friday we were at the Trestle Arts Base in St Albans to see ‘Roam’ – a new piece by the Tom Dale Company. Choreographed by Tom Dale with specially commissioned tracks from maverick producer/composer Shackleton and drum&bass outfit Sion (“a captivating journey into a world of swinging sub bass and complex percussion”) and incorporating the work of poet Rick Holland, ‘Roam’ was a serious, impressive performance. The five young dancers demonstrated truly amazing athleticism. Not being fluent in the language of modern dance, I don’t really have the vocabulary to do the piece justice but it was clearly of a very high standard. As a musician, I found those sections that were more obviously rhythmic and related directly to the music easier to appreciate though I was impressed that even the slower, more abstract movements contained tiny muscular twitches that acknowledged the music’s beats. I’m not sure I fully grasped all the references to the desire to roam, which (according to the programme) explored the relationship between “intellectual roaming and more animalistic roaming for food and shelter”. But it was great to see something so different, thought-provoking and cool. You can see an extract at: http://vimeo.com/6879374

'Cello recital by Robert Foster at Toddington Music Society

12 February 2010

On Saturday evening we made the short journey to our neighbouring village for a concert presented by the Toddington Music Society. Robert Foster is a young ‘cellist (currently doing his GCSEs at a school in Dunstable) who won the Toddington Music Society Young Musician Competition in 2009. His prize was a solo recital in the Wilkinson Church Hall in Toddington – though the phrase solo recital is slightly misleading as Robert brought with him a host of friends to create an eclectic evening of high quality music-making. We heard piano and guitar solos and Robert played several pieces with a group of young string players as well as a variety of pieces for solo ‘cello and piano accompaniment. As well as the inevitable ‘cello perennials (‘The Swan’ from Saint-Saens’ ‘The Carnival Of Animals’ and the ‘Prelude’ from the first ‘Cello Suite’ by J.S. Bach) it was great to discover some more unusual offerings such as a piano piece by the Japanese film and video-game composer Nobuo Uematsu. But the highlight for me was a ‘cello duet by Friedrich August Kummer (a contemporary of Schubert) which Robert Foster played with his elder brother David, himself a former winner of the Toddington Young Musician Competition. It was a really enjoyable evening and wonderful to see such a high standard of young musical talent so close to home.

'Far' by Regina Spektor

5 February 2010

Regina Spektor is a singer who tends to get filed under ‘acquired taste’ but is definitely a taste worth acquiring. Moscow-born Regina Spektor grew up in New York where she studied classical piano. Her piano-backed pop/rock ballads remind me of Nerina Pallot (reviewed her in May 2006) with similarly clever lyrics. But Regina Spektor’s childlike voice is very much in the Kate Bush/ Joanna Newsom vein. Her latest album ‘Far’ is less earnest and more upbeat than Joanna Newsom (reviewed here in November 2006): jaunty but wistful.

‘Light a Candle’ by Forró in the Dark

29 January 2010

Forró in the Dark are a band formed by four New York-based Brazilian ex-pats who have taken forró (“the hip-swiveling, dancefloor-filling, rural party music of Brazil’s northeastern states”) and created from it a cool, modern, urban, infectiously catchy sound. Their album ‘Light a Candle’ is a varied set of songs in a number of languages (including English) which are cheery, upbeat and very danceable. Electric guitar, saxophone and flute are to the fore, accompanied by the ever-present syncopated tingle of the triangle. It’s music with a smile – easy to like if a bit indeterminately ‘international’ rather than distinctively Brazilian. At times Forró in the Dark sound remarkably like the German world music fusionists 17 Hippies (reviewed here in October 2007). Cheer-yourself-up music.

'Ed Reardon's Week' by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds

22 January 2010

I was a late convert to the joys of 'Ed Reardon's Week', the wonderful BBC Radio 4 comedy by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds which has just started its sixth series, but like many late converts I'm now zealously enthusiastic. These thirty minute tales of the life of the eponymous curmudgeonly writer (played by Douglas) and Elgar, his faithful feline companion, are beautifully crafted with a host of subtle literary references and running jokes. Each episode manages to give the impression that nothing has happened while actually carrying the listener through a nicely rounded plot with a satisfying comic twist. I can relate to the local references, being not too far from Berkhamsted, and increasingly to Ed's constant railing against the '12-year-olds' in charge of running the modern world (badly). The show has a great cast including Stephanie Cole, John Fortune, Philip Jackson and Geoffrey Whitehead - though the best character is definitely Ed's literary agent's dippy Sloane Ranger assistant Ping (now played by Barunka O'Shaughnessy). 'Ed Reardon's Week' is currently on Radio 4 on Monday morning's at 11.30 am (and available on iPlayer). And in the best Ed Reardon tradition I'm grateful to Wikipedia for its help in writing this review.

‘The Life of Lilly’ by Ruth Notman

15 January 2010

As I’ve struggled to get in and out of Eversholt through the severe wintry weather this week, I’ve been keeping my spirits up by listening to the wonderful second album by my favourite young English folk singer, Ruth Notman (reviewed here in February 2007, April 2009 and August 2009). ‘The Life of Lilly’ continues the mix of traditional songs and original compositions that characterised her debut album ‘Threads’. There’s a similar variety of arrangements and moods: I particularly like the beautifully moving title track and the cheeky jollity of ‘Johnny Be Fair’. ‘The Life of Lilly’ is another classy album dominated by Ruth Notman’s gorgeous and distinctive voice. If you haven’t discovered her yet make, it your New Year resolution to do so!

Lea Singers Christmas Concert

8 January 2009

The Lea Singers Christmas Concert in Harpenden was the perfect way to start our Christmas break. This excellent amateur chamber choir (of just 21 singers) entertained a packed audience with a mixture of carols and Christmas songs from around the world including a fiendish arrangement of 'Jingle Bells' by Ben Parry which shaves a quaver off the length of a bar each time the chorus comes round. This was the first Lea Singers Christmas Concert for the choir's impressive new conductor, James Sherlock, and his enthusiastic contribution, together with the return of the wonderful young tenor soloist, Nicky Spence, made for a light-hearted, cheeky and extremely high-quality performance.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

17 December 2009

This year’s Northampton Symphony Orchestra ‘Christmas Cracker Concert’ was the first for our new conductor, Alexander Walker, and had a slightly different focus from recent years. An all-Russian, festive programme included part of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Christmas Eve Suite’, the ‘Rose Adagio’ from ‘Sleeping Beauty’ by Tchaikovsky and the whole of Prokofiev’s ‘Lieutenant Kije Suite’. We were also joined by the Russian singer and multi-instrumentalist Serge Pachnine & the amazing balalaika player Bibs Ekkel for a series of traditional Russian folk songs, arranged for orchestra and soloists by Alexander Walker. What at first appeared to be a more serious programme than our previous Christmas Cracker Concerts, turned out to be huge fun with fantastically entertaining performances by Serge and Bibs much appreciated by a large, enthusiastic and appreciative audience. You can see Bibs in action at http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&feature=player_embedded&v=AYN17QvR6P0

'Piano Concerto No 1' by Wilhelm Stenhammar

11 December 2009

I had never heard of the Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871 – 1927) until I read a newspaper review of a new recording of his two piano concertos a few weeks ago, but I’m now a big fan. I’ve been listening, in particular, to his epic Piano Concerto No. 1, written in 1893. It’s a gloriously romantic work with more than a hint of Brahms: anyone who likes the piano concertos of Rachmaninov would find much to admire here. It’s tuneful, passionate and very moving. It also reminded me of the two wonderful, but similarly neglected, piano concertos by Herbert Howells. You can judge for yourself by exploring quite a few recordings of Stenhammar’s works (for free) on Spotify. I’m now looking forward to getting to know his three symphonies.

‘Annie Get Your Gun’ by Irving Berlin

4 December 2009

Last Saturday we were at the Young Vic in London to see Irving Berlin’s ‘Annie Get Your Gun’. It was a marvellous evening: I left the theatre grinning and whistling the tunes (which is more difficult than it sounds!). I hadn’t seen ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ before but I was very familiar with many of the songs which have become standards. It’s hard to believe that ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’, ‘Anything You Can Do’, ‘I Got the Sun in the Morning’ and ‘Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly’ all came from this one show. Irving Berlin certainly knew how to write a good tune and had the knack of creating musical comedy that was genuinely funny: there are some great laugh-out-loud lyrics. The Young Vic production was lots of fun: it’s a relatively small theatre so you get to see the cast close-up and, while there was some very witty use of fairly low-tech props and stagecraft, the gimmicks were used sparingly so that the focus was on the acting and the singing. Jane Horrocks as Annie Oakley is a real star: it’s hard to take your eyes off her even during the ensemble pieces. Her face, movement and voice are excellent: she’s a compelling performer and it was great to see her in such an intimate venue. Jason Carr’s musical arrangements for four upright pianos which buttress the front of the stage conjured up the atmosphere of a Wild West saloon and the singing was excellent. A really enjoyable evening in the theatre.

'Mostly Harmless' by Douglas Adams

27 November 2009

When I was reading the reviews of Eoin Colfer’s official ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ sequel, ‘And Another Thing’, I realised that I had never got around to reading ‘Mostly Harmless’, Douglas Adams’ fifth and final volume in his Hitchhiker ‘trilogy’. I’ve now just finished ‘Mostly Harmless’ and, while it was great fun to re-immerse myself in Adams’ brilliantly witty prose, it’s a bit of a downbeat ending to his wonderful sci-fi saga. As I read it I realised I was already familiar with the plot of ‘Mostly Harmless’ from Dirk Maggs’ radio version. It lacks a lot of the pace and humour of the earlier books, partly I think because he keeps the main characters apart for most of the story. And I understand (from Douglas Adams’ own reflections in ‘The Salmon of Doubt’, reviewed here in October 2009) that he wrote ‘Mostly Harmless’ at a time when he wasn’t at his most cheery – which might explain his compulsion to kill off most of his major characters. Or maybe, perversely, it's the absence of the depressive Marvin the Paranoid Android from this book that actually makes it more depressing? Nevertheless there’s lots of great ideas, set-pieces and carefully planted gags. Now bring on ‘And Another Thing’ …

Staff Benda Bilili

19 November 2009

Staff Benda Bilili are an amazing band – one of the most exciting live acts I have seen for ages. They are a group of Congolese street musicians who live around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa – where they recorded their debut album in the open air. Four of the musicians use wheelchairs and a fifth appears on crutches but this doesn’t prevent some of the most exuberant dancing you’ll ever see on a stage. The music is upbeat, catchy, funky and infectiously danceable. A fantastic, young drummer plays a kit which appears to be constructed from blocks of wood and tin cans that might have been found in a skip. But the star of the show is eighteen-year-old Roger Landu who plays the ‘satonge’ – an instrument he constructed from a condensed milk tin, coat hanger and a piece of wire, connected to an amplifier to create a soaring electronic sound which is part Stylophone, part theremin, part Jimi Hendrix! It’s quite hard to adequately describe the effect of seeing Staff Benda Bilili – who we saw at the Stables in Wavendon on Sunday. At first you worry that their disabilities and wheelchairs are being exploited as a gimmick but soon their musicianship, raw enthusiasm and zest for life makes you forget the disabilities and see the personalities. It was a truly brilliant performance – the album, ‘Très Très Fort’ is good but nothing like the experience of seeing the band live – do catch them if you have the chance. Take a look at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaTZ5gAzkCY.

‘Shakers’ by John Godber and Jane Thornton

19 November 2009

On Saturday we made a first visit to the marvellous Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds – the only surviving example of a Regency theatre in the country. The original Georgian building is now supplemented by a modern atrium – in a similar way to the Ashmolean extension. We were there to see the Hull Truck Theatre Company production of ‘Shakers’ by John Godber and Jane Thornton. ‘Shakers’, written in 1985, is a companion piece to Godber’s 1977 hit ‘Bouncers’ with four female actors playing four waitresses in a cocktail bar and all their customers from opening time to closing time. Like a lot of John Godber plays, it’s very funny but also achingly poignant. I first saw ‘Shakers’ many years ago – a great amateur production but at the less architecturally inspiring setting of the South Holland Centre in Spalding (before its Lottery-funded facelift) – quite a contrast from the Regency splendour of the Theatre Royal! This production, directed by John Godber, was excellently acted and enthusiastically received by a sell-out audience.

The Ashmolean Museum

19 November 2009

It’s been a week for first visits: on Friday I made my first trip to Britain’s oldest museum, the Ashmolean in Oxford which has just reopened after a massive refurbishment. It’s a fascinating building, with the modern extension seamlessly integrated into the classical original. I loved the apparent randomness of the layout: you wander from small, low-ceilinged galleries into vast, cavernous rooms and you can see through glass panels from one gallery to the next, enticing you onwards. Just walking around the building creates a sense of exploration. The thematic grouping of displays – rather than a traditional chronological approach – adds to the feeling of eclectic channel-hopping. I worried a little that I was drawn more to the text and graphics than to the actual objects on display. It was particularly interesting to finish the day by looking at the displays on Ancient Egypt which are the one part of the museum yet to be refurbished and now appear extremely old-fashioned: the display cases are crammed with huge numbers of objects and cards containing masses of very small text and the galleries feel quite cramped and claustrophobic compared to the airy modernity of the rest of the museum. You can easily spend a whole day in the Ashmolean (and entry is free). And if the queues in the basement café are long I can recommend popping across the road to the café in the foyer of the Playhouse Theatre.

Galliard Ensemble

19 November 2009

Regular readers may have noticed that I don’t go to a lot of chamber music concerts: I’m not sure why, because those few occasions I have been persuaded to attend have always been really enjoyable. Last Thursday I made my first visit to Bedford Music Club to hear the Galliard Ensemble – a wind quintet who came to prominence through the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme. They were brilliant – precise, delicate, impressive and extremely entertaining. Their programme – inadvertently themed around composers called Paul! – was varied and interesting. We were treated to the world premiere of ‘Pealing Out’, a short celebratory piece written by local composer Paul Whitmarsh to mark the fortieth anniversary of Bedford Music Club. And Paul Whitmarsh was one of two composers in the room (both called Paul!) as Paul Patterson introduced his 1972 ‘Comedy for Five Winds’ which closed the concert. I was interested to hear ‘Kleine Kammermusik’, an early work by Paul Hindemith, but I particularly enjoyed Samuel Barber’s ‘Summer Music’. It was a wonderful concert.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

12 November 2009

When I hear any orchestral music on the radio, while I may not be able to identify the piece or the composer, I can almost always tell instantly whether or not I have played it. And, even listening to it on the radio, I still get that nervous pain in my stomach when hearing the few bars that immediately precede a horn solo or an exposed entry that I once agonised over playing. I suspect the closing moments of the first movement of Rachmaninov’s third symphony will now forever conjure up that mixture of excitement and terror after my experience of playing the horn solo at the start of the second movement with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra last Saturday. In a rare excursion into the NSO first horn hot-seat, I faced the daunting prospect of creating the only sound at the quiet opening of the slow movement. To be fair it’s more of a duet with the harp than a solo and I was very grateful for the reassuring presence of our excellent harpist Daniel de Fry. And, between you and me, it’s not a particularly difficult series of notes to play. But the pressure of such an exposed and fleeting moment to get it right or wrong, after many weeks of rehearsal, does make you incredibly nervous. As far as I can remember it went okay, and I did enjoy the experience, but I suspect that the joyous opening of the final movement of the symphony will now always be synonymous for me with a feeling of relief and relaxation. Rachmaninov’s ‘Symphony No 3’ is a subtle, complex and beautiful piece of music – not one that I was previously familiar with and I have enjoyed getting to know it. I think we gave a pretty good performance in a programme which also included ‘Francesca da Rimini’ by Tchaikovsky and Lucy Parham playing Mozart’s ‘Piano Concerto No 24’. There’s nothing better to relieve stress and nerves than to listen to Lucy playing Mozart.

'Toast' by Nigel Slater

6 November 2009

Years ago someone (was it you?) told me to read 'Toast' by Nigel Slater and it's taken me ages to get around to it: now I wish I'd read it earlier! Slater's childhood memoir, told through a series of short food-based episodes, is entertaining, nostalgic, funny, moving and very sad. Most of the chapters are no more than a couple of pages long and many would stand alone as effective short stories. His delicate descriptions of food from prawn cocktail to jammie dodgers to space dust really bring the tastes and smells to life. And the detached, naïve, voice of his younger self creates a subtle portrait of family life seen through a boy's lonely eyes.

'Twelfth Night' by William Shakespeare

2 November 2009

Although I was looking forward to seeing Gregory Doran's new RSC production of 'Twelfth Night' at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, I was surprised, having seen another production of the play quite recently at Woburn (reviewed here in August 2009), at the extent to which I was completely gripped by the plot. Most of the publicity for this production has centred on Richard Wilson's RSC debut as Malvolio. His was a fine performance but Malvolio is not the main focus of the play and, for me, the two stars were the female leads: Nancy Carroll as Viola and Alexandra Gilbreath as Olivia. I was also impressed by Richard McCabe and James Fleet who I think were the best Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek I have seen. The 'letter scene', dominated by a towering and particularly box-like box tree, was a real highlight. The thrust stage of the Courtyard Theatre brings the actors much closer to the audience, making the live experience particularly exciting and it was wonderful to see such excellent acting so close up.

'The Pitmen Painters' by Lee Hall

26 October 2009

On Saturday we were at the Milton Keynes Theatre to see 'The Pitmen Painters' by Lee Hall. This is the inspiring story of a group of miners who started attending a WEA art appreciation class in Ashington, Northumberland in 1934, where their tutor decided the best way to help them understand art was to get them to try creating their own pictures. The Ashington Group - many of whom had left school at the age of 10 to start working in the mine - became nationally recognised and collected and were friends with some of the most famous artists of their day. When I met the new Chief Executive of Northumberland County Council recently he proudly pointed out an Ashington Group painting he had bought for the wall of his office. Lee Hall's play is wonderful - entertaining, thought-provoking, moving and extremely funny. The group's meetings in a YMCA hall, an old army hut, seemed reminiscent of 'Dad's Army' - with a similar cast of characters. Their pictures are projected across the back of the stage enabling us to follow their critical discussions in detail. The actors in this National Theatre/Live Theatre touring co-production are the original cast from the premiere at the Live Theatre, Newcastle, in September 2007. It's a great night in the theatre but it also carries a very important message. Writing in the programme Lee Hall points out "the idea that art is somehow a commodity, that culture is something one consumes rather than takes part in, is, of course, a very modern notion. The idea that an artist is someone who makes things to be bought and sold is part of this ideological shift and it is important to remind ourselves that art might indeed mean something more than this". I urge you to see 'The Pitmen Painters' if you get the chance.

'Spring Storm' by Tennessee Williams

26 October 2009

'Spring Storm' was Tennessee Williams' first play, written in 1937 but only now receiving its European premiere at the Royal Theatre in Northampton. It's an interesting early work with some rough edges but hints of the greater plays that were to follow. Laurie Sansom's production features a wonderful ramshackle set - a pile of driftwood thrown together by the Mississippi from which the actors construct the essential elements for each scene. There are a couple of great set-piece scenes towards the end of the play and there's some fantastic acting throughout, particularly from Liz White as Heavenly Critchfield and Jacqueline King as her mother.

'Home Time' by Emma Fryer and Neil Redmond

23 October 2009

I've been completely hooked on 'Home Time' the BBC2 sitcom by Emma Fryer and Neil Redmond which ended its first series last night. At the age of 17 Gaynor ran away to London leaving her childhood behind in Coventry: 12 years later she returns sheepishly to her family home where her parents and best friends pick up where they left off, treating her as if she is still a teenager. As she revisits her childhood haunts an embarrassed Gaynor continually bumps into people from her past (as she walks down the street in the opening episode, both the burglar emerging from a window and the police officer who then apprehends him pause to look up and say "Hi Gaynor - you back then?"). Dark, poignant and very funny, the series is incredibly well-written (I liked the line "at our age we still have the rest of our lives in front of us"). The characters are great, particularly the star of the show, 'Cov' itself. You can still watch all 6 episodes on BBC iplayer - catch it while you can.

‘Keepsakes’ by Sam Carter

16 October 2009

I’ve been enjoying ‘Keepsakes’, the debut solo album by Sam Carter – one of the members of the folk big band Bellowhead (reviewed here in October 2006). As with fellow Bellowheader Benji Kirkpatrick (reviewed here in April 2009) it’s great to hear Sam Carter’s virtuoso playing in the spotlight. His delicate finger-picking guitar playing accompanies a series of gentle, contemplative self-penned songs. I particularly like the wistful, haunting melody of ‘Captain’ – a song about driving through the night between gigs which captures beautifully a feeling of being exhausted but happy.

'The Salmon of Doubt' by Douglas Adams

8 October 2009

This seems the right time to be returning to Douglas Adams: Stephen Fry and Mark Cawardine are currently retracing the steps Douglas and Mark took 20 years ago in 'Last Chance to See' (Sundays on BBC1), a third 'Dirk Gently' radio series is in production (following the wonderful radio versions of 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency', reviewed here in October 2007, and 'The Long, Dark, Tea Time of the Soul', reviewed here in October 2008) and we are approaching celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the original radio broadcast of 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (which is to be marked by the publication of an authorised Hitch Hiker sequel by Eoin Colfer). I've been reading 'The Salmon of Doubt', a collection of unpublished writings, short stories, newspaper columns and speeches rescued from the hard drive of Douglas Adams' Mac after his untimely death in 2001. It's been wonderful to 'hear his voice' again – like rediscovering a long lost friend. This odd collection of pieces acts as an extremely entertaining, randomly constructed autobiography, demonstrating Adams' growing fascination with computers, evolution, conservation etc. and how his fiction gradually incorporated each of these themes. The real gem here is eleven chapters of his final, unfinished, Dirk Gently novel which are great. Somehow the fact that the convoluted plot and mysterious happenings they introduce may never be resolved doesn’t seem to matter – wonderful stuff. And there’s also a very funny story about a packet of biscuits that will be familiar to anyone who was at the opening of the NALGAO conference in Swindon yesterday …

‘The Warm Heart of Africa’ by The Very Best

2 October 2009

I’m really enjoying ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’ – the debut album by a group modestly calling itself The Very Best. The Very Best are the Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and two producers from France and Sweden who met in a second-hand shop in London where one of them had gone to buy a bicycle. The music they have created is varied, catchy, extremely hard-to-describe, like nothing you have heard before but also strangely familiar. Blending electronic dance music, African influences and much more the album features Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend and British rapper MIA. Read Charlie Gillett’s review for The Observer here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/sep/06/very-best-warm-heart-africa and listen to the album for free on Spotify.