'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by William Shakespeare

18 October 2019

On Thursday we made a second visit to the Curzon Cinema at Milton Keynes Gallery to see a screening of Nicholas Hytner’s production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', filmed live at the Bridge Theatre in London. This is an immersive promenade performance with the actors moving amongst a standing audience, in a similar way to Hytner’s spectacular production of ‘Julius Caesar’ at the Bridge Theatre (reviewed here in April 2018). Once again the crowd control, by discreetly positioned stewards within the audience, was very slick – with the audience parting at just the right moment to let the actors through. Nicholas Hytner sets the opening Athens scenes of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in a fiercely patriarchal society clearly modelled on the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. And once the action moves into the forest he references Peter Brook’s legendary 1970 RSC production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by deploying a team of aerial gymnasts on trapezes above the audience. The production is great fun with a multitude of clever gimmicks and additions (maybe too many). Nicholas Hytner’s main innovation – which works wonderfully – is to swap the roles of Oberon and Titania, making the sexual politics of the dream funnier and much less creepy. Gwendoline Christie is magnificent as Titantia/Hippolyta but Oliver Chris threatens to steal the show as Oberon/Theseus. David Moorst is very funny and incredibly athletic as Puck and the lovers are excellent, particularly Tessa Bonham Jones as Helena. The rude mechanicals are also extremely funny – led by Felicity Montagu as Quince and featuring a brilliantly vulnerable performance by Hammed Animashaun as Bottom. The end of the first half of the play and the finale both turn the auditorium into a massive party and it looked like great fun to be part of the promenading audience in the pit. My only criticism was that some of the added tricks and business distracted a little from what are usually the funniest scenes of the play. I don’t think it quite matched the cinema screening of Julie Taymor's amazing 2014 production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at the Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn, New York (reviewed here in August 2015) but the Bridge Theatre performance was incredibly enjoyable and left me beaming.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

14 October 2019

On Saturday I was at St Matthews Church in Northampton for the first concert in the Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s 126th concert season. This concert was part of the 14th Malcolm Arnold Festival and we played three pieces by the Northampton-born composer. The ‘Peterloo Overture’ featured brilliant playing by our percussion section, evoking the violent events at St Peter’s Fields, Manchester on 16 August 1819. Arnold’s ‘Variations on a Theme of Ruth Gipps’ is a rarely performed work that pays tribute to his friend and contemporary – a prolific composer and celebrated conductor who deserves greater recognition. Stolen Face is a 1952 Hammer horror film directed by Terence Fisher for which Malcolm Arnold wrote the music. Philip Lane’s transcription of the score is a mini piano concerto which we performed with Rhythmie Wong – an award-winning pianist from Hong Kong. Rhythmie also joined us to play the ‘Piano Concerto No 2’ by Rachmaninov. Such a well-known virtuosic work is a real challenge for soloist and orchestra but Rhythmie Wong’s performance was flawless and the orchestral accompaniment was impressive – with a particularly beautiful clarinet solo in the slow movement by Naomi Muller. It’s an incredibly emotional piece of music which always moves me to tears ("Oh, no, please, it's only something in my eye"). We finished the concert with another powerfully romantic piece, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Fantasy Overture: Romeo and Juliet' which cleverly portrays the key elements of the story of the star-crossed lovers. It was a lovely concert which played to a packed and enthusiastic audience.

'Ask Again, Yes' by Mary Beth Keane

11 October 2019

I really enjoyed 'Ask Again, Yes', the new novel by Mary Beth Keane, which I've just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Molly Pope. It's a family saga which follows the families of two New York cops who live next door to each other. A shockingly violent incident drives a wedge between the families and has repercussions for decades. Aspects of the story reminded me of 'The Goldfinch' (reviewed here in February 2014) and Mary Beth Keane's ability to make the reader simultaneously sympathise with characters who have diametrically opposed views rivals Jonathan Franzen in 'The Corrections' (reviewed here in Februy 2015). 'Ask Again, Yes' also has a lot in common with 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver (reviewed here in August 2006). This is exalted company for a contemporary novel but is totally deserved. Mary Beth Keane resists a multitude of possible corny plot twists to present a moving and believably realistic picture of flawed people dealing with difficult situations as well as they can.

'A Flavour of Flitwick' Fun Palace

11 October 2019

On Saturday morning I was at Flitwick library for the Fun Palace, 'A Flavour of Flitwick'. There were plenty of people taking part in creative and science activities, including lots of very young children. They were painting and drawing, engaging in a foreign language quiz and practicing the strange art of bookfolding (see: https://youtu.be/S0asVzuW7y4). Local air cadets were supervising a paper aeroplane challenge, a group of adults were playing whist and there was a lot of Lego on the floor. Someone was tentatively tapping out a tune on an upright piano and a circle of chairs, each containing a ukulele, promised more music to come. It was certainly a fun environment, with people genuinely enjoying themselves and trying new things for the first time. This was one of 390 Fun Palaces that took place across the country last weekend, see: http://funpalaces.co.uk/

Ben Goldscheider

2 October 2019

The 2016 BBC Young Musician competition (reviewed here in May 2016) felt like one of the best ever, with a concerto final at The Barbican in London that featured saxophonist Jess Gillam and ‘cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. The third finalist was the horn player Ben Goldscheider who played the 'Concerto No 2' by Richard Strauss. Ben Goldscheider went on to study at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin and is making a name for himself as a soloist around the world, having played at the BBC Proms and the Berlin Philharmonie. He has benefited from taking part in many young musician competitions in addition to BBC Young Musician, but the only competition in which he won the overall prize was the 2013 Toddington Young Musician of the Year, organised by Toddington Music Society. Last Saturday Ben Goldscheider returned to the Bedfordshire village of Toddington to thank Toddington Music Society for their help in setting him on the ladder to a professional career by performing a recital with the pianist Richard Uttley. They played pieces by Beethoven, Dukas, Tchaikovsky, Hindemith and Richard Strauss. It was great to see Ben play: his technique is amazing and he makes a lovely sound. I was ready and waiting in case he fell ill and they might need to ask if there was a horn player in the audience – but it was probably better for everyone that Ben made it safely through the concert!

'Inspector Drake and the Time Machine' by David Tristram

2 October 2019

One of the highlights of the offerings from our excellent local amateur theatre company TADS over the past ten years, has been the trilogy of ‘Inspector Drake’ plays by David Tristram, starring local amateur actors Joe Butcher and Kevin Birkett as the mercurial Inspector and his intellectually challenged sidekick, Sergeant Plod. We really enjoyed ‘Inspector Drake and the Black Widow’ (reviewed here in April 2009), ‘Inspector Drake and the Perfekt Crime’ (reviewed here in July 2010) and ‘Inspector Drake’s Last Case’ (reviewed here in April 2011). It was wonderful, therefore, to be back at the TADS Theatre in Toddington last weekend to see David Tristram’s new play ‘Inspector Drake and the Time Machine’. But it was sad to discover that this performance was dedicated to the fond memory of Kevin Birkett. Dave Hillman stepped into Kevin’s formidable flat-footed shoes to play Sergeant Plod, accompanying the brilliant Joe Butcher as the Clouseau-like Inspector who seems oblivious of the most obvious things happening around him but still somehow manages to solve the case. It was another festival of corny puns, with much breaking of the fourth wall – and the added plot complications resulting from time travel. And reassuringly, as usual at the end of the play, the Inspector was presented with a briefcase covered in wrapping paper just so that he can say “well, that’s another case wrapped up”.

Ruhpolding, Bavaria

27 September 2019

We had a wonderful holiday in Germany last week, staying in Ruhpolding – a beautiful small town in the Bavarian Alps, 30 minutes from Salzburg. The flat valleys, steep mountains and lush green countryside were very similar to the area around Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, which we visited in September 2016. We had some lovely late summer sunshine and used the cable cars and chair lifts to get some spectacular views. We did a lot of walking  - on the Rauchsberg, Hochfelln and Unternberg mountains, around the Lödensee, Mittersee and Weitsee lakes and from the towns of Reit im Winkl and Inzell as well as visiting the pretty medieval town of Traunstein. You can see a selection of my holiday photos at: https://culturaloutlook.blogspot.com/search/label/Bavaria2019

'French Exit' by Patrick deWitt

13 September 2019

Patrick deWitt is trying to be the Stanley Kubrick of contemporary novelists, with each of his books exploring a completely different genre. After his brilliant quirky Gold Rush Western ‘The Sisters Brothers’ (reviewed here in October 2015) and the strange, funny, middle-European fairytale ‘Undermajordomo Minor’ (reviewed here in September 2016) he has now turned his hand to an old-fashioned ‘tragedy of manners’ in his latest novel ‘French Exit’ which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Laurence Bouvard. This feels like a chamber piece compared to the previous novels: it is a fairly short book in which not too much happens. A rich widow and her son lose their fortune and have to leave Manhattan to live in a friend’s apartment in Paris. Along the way they accumulate a collection of friends, acquaintances and tradesmen to whom they are mostly rude or indifferent. It’s an odd tale, slightly surreal and often frustrating. None of the characters are particularly likeable but the book has a strange charm. It reminded me a little of the play ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart (reviewed here in January 2012) which features a house guest who arrived six years ago to deliver ice and never left. There is also an echo of PG Wodehouse about the idle rich characters – and the novel feels like it should be set in the Wodehouse era, despite apparently being present-day. It’s not trying to be funny in the manner of Wodehouse, though it builds gently until you reach a set-piece farce scene without realising it. ‘French Exit’ is a peculiar, detached piece of storytelling which I didn’t think was entirely successful but Patrick deWitt is a fascinating writer and it will be interesting to see which genre he chooses next.

'The Entertainer' by John Osborne

6 September 2019

On Thursday we were at Milton Keynes Theatre to see ‘The Entertainer’ by John Osborne. ‘The Entertainer’ is such an iconic play, famous for Laurence Olivier’s self-deprecating performance and his endorsement of the angry young playwright. It’s one of those plays you feel you know, without having seen it. So it was fascinating to sit through a performance of ‘The Entertainer’ for the first time and to find that much of the play wasn’t what I had expected. The front-of-curtain routines in which the fading music-hall star Archie Rice is objectionable, embarrassing and sad yet, still manages occasionally to be genuinely funny, were wonderfully performed by Shane Richie. But the scenes in his family home surprised me, with Sara Crowe’s Phoebe an apparent prototype for Beverley in Abigail’s Party (reviewed here in March 2018) and the Rice family dynamic an uncanny predecessor of the Trotters in ‘Only Fools and Horses’. I also saw an unexpected parallel with 'The Remains of the Day' by Kazuo Ishiguro – both stories reflecting on the end of empire and a shift in Britain’s place in the world. Bizarrely, I spotted this similarity because Pip Donaghy, who played Archie’s father Billy Rice – a retired performer coaxed back onto the stage by his son, with disastrous consequences – also played Stevens Senior – a retired butler coaxed back into service by his son, with disastrous consequences – in the stage adaptation of ‘The Remains of the Day’ that we saw at the Royal Theatre, Northampton earlier this year (reviewed here in March 2019). Sean O’Connor’s production of ‘The Entertainer’ shifts the setting from 1957, with its backdrop of the Suez crisis, to 1982 and the Falklands War. This works well, without requiring much adjustment to the text. The action is interspersed with recordings of news broadcasts, giant projections of tabloid newspaper headlines and plenty of 80s pop music. This setting also now has the effect of making Archie Rice – as an ageing old-fashioned comedian in the early 1980s – seem even more seedy. ‘The Entertainer’ is an uncomfortable watch – a sad  commentary on Britain’s global role that feels very timely.

'Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense' by The Goodale Brothers

6 September 2019

The pretty seaside town of Sheringham in North Norfolk is one of our favourite places. When we lived nearer we used to have regular day trips to Sheringham every summer to walk the dogs in Sheringham Park (a large National Trust country park) and along the seafront, before finishing the day with a visit to Sheringham Little Theatre. Since we have moved further away we have been less frequent visitors: our last trip was eleven years ago, when we saw the play 'Dangerous Obsession' by N J Crisp (reviewed here in July 2008). So it was a lovely trip down memory lane to return to Sheringham last weekend. The Little Theatre (capacity 180) still runs an old-fashioned weekly rep company over the summer months, with the same set of actors putting on a different play each week. On Saturday we saw them perform ‘Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense’. This is a dramatisation by The Goodale Brothers of a P G Wodehouse tale, made even more entertaining by framing it as a play-within-a-play, as Bertie Wooster, Jeeves and fellow butler Seppings attempt to act out the story for us. The challenges of playing multiple characters, often within the same scene, create a wonderful theatrical farce. Nick Earnshaw’s production, starring David Tarkenter, Steve Banks and Ryan Starling, was great fun and a lovely end to a beautiful sunny day by the seaside.

'Sweet Caress' by William Boyd

30 August 2019

I’ve been reading ‘Sweet Caress’ by William Boyd – a novel published in 2015 which weaves a 20th century family saga around a collection of old black and white photographs. Subtitled ‘The Many Lives of Amory Clay’ it tells the story of a woman born in 1908 whose personal and professional life bears witness to some of the most significant world events of the century. This reminded me of Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life After Life’ (reviewed here in June 2013) whose protagonist, Ursula Todd, is born in 1910. But ‘Sweet Caress’ is a much less tricksy novel: it’s a fairly conventional saga, partly told in hindsight by the older Amory Clay in 1977. William Boyd seems to have used a set of (apparently) unconnected photos as the inspiration for his story, making Amory Clay a professional photographer and constructing her history to explain how she came to be in each of the places and events depicted by the photos. The result is an enjoyable novel which lacks the literary ambition of ‘Life After Life’ but demonstrates William Boyd’s skills in engaging the reader: again and again when I was planning just to read to the end of a chapter I found myself unable to stop because I desperately wanted to know what happened next. Describing a book as a ‘page-turner’ can feel like damning with faint praise but ‘Sweet Caress’ is an entertaining read.

'Yesterday' by Danny Boyle

21 August 2019

On Tuesday we were at the Odeon in Milton Keynes to see Danny Boyle’s film ‘Yesterday’, written by Richard Curtis and Jack Barth. It’s a charming romcom, silly and ridiculous but completely loveable. Himesh Patel plays Jack, a struggling singer songwriter involved in traffic accident, who comes round to discover he is now in a world where nobody has heard of The Beatles, except him. Jack struggles to remember the lyrics to as many Beatles songs as he can and soon becomes feted as the greatest ever songwriter. But fame and fortune takes him away from his childhood friend/fan/manager/driver Ellie, adorably played by Lily James who was so brilliant in Ivo van Hove’s 'All About Eve' (reviewed here in April 2019). The real stars of the show, however, are those classic Beatles songs. You don’t need to know anything about The Beatles to enjoy ‘Yesterday’ but by presenting 17 of their best songs as fresh compositions it reminds us what all the fuss was about.

'The Book of Traps and Lessons' by Kate Tempest

16 August 2019

Writing here in October 2014 I said “Kate Tempest is a name to watch.” Since then the South London poet/rapper/playwright/novelist has continued to impress, with an eclectic track record that has been consistently brilliant. Her new album ‘The Book of Traps and Lessons’ feels more reflective and less angry than its predecessor ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ (reviewed here in October 2016). The beats have been stripped back (by producer Rick Rubin) to leave Kate Tempest’s distinctive voice revealed more obviously as poetry backed by music, rather than rap. The wordplay is incredibly clever, full of double meanings that turn the sense of a phrase on a single word. Each track reveals more each time you listen to it. Tempest hasn’t lost her anger, suggesting the UK is a nation living “in the mouth of a breaking storm”. She says “I’m a child of the gimme more nation” and “our leaders aren’t even pretending not to be demons”. But the scale of our looming crises now require more than anger and there is optimism in ‘The Book of Traps and Lessons’ in its celebration of love and dancing. Listen to the track ‘People’s Faces’ (and read the lyrics) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRULtXn6W0s

'The Lehman Trilogy' by Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power

9 August 2019

The defining moment of the 2008 banking crisis was the fall of Lehman Brothers Bank. The iconic image of traders leaving its skyscraper headquarters in New York carrying their personal effects in cardboard boxes summed up a grim period in our recent history. Sam Mendes’ National Theatre production of ‘The Lehman Trilogy’, which we saw in a NTLive encore screening at the Quarry Theatre in Bedford on Thursday, tells the story of Lehman Brothers – from the arrival in America of the three immigrant brothers from Bavaria in the 1840s to the collapse of the bank eleven years ago. ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ is an adaptation by Ben Power of Stefano Massini’s nine hour long Italian radio play. Although Power has trimmed the play considerably it still lasts three and a half hours, in three acts with two intervals. But it’s an amazing theatrical performance. Three actors – Simon Russell Beale, Ben Miles and Adam Godley – play the Lehman brothers, their sons, grandsons, wives and a host of other characters in an acting masterclass. There are no costume changes and hardly any props, but the switches between characters are clear from small changes in facial expressions and posture. The play is mostly narration rather than dialogue, with the three actors taking turns to provide the narrative voice like a Greek chorus. This might have made for a dull play but the story is gripping and the script is playful and poetic, full of recurring phrases and repetitive episodes. The staging (by Es Devlin) is simple but inventive, with the three actors enclosed in a giant rotating transparent box through which we see constantly changing back projections (by Luke Halls). Apart from a boardroom table and chairs, the only furniture is a pile of the infamous cardboard boxes, which are used to construct each scene in this epic family saga. The actors are accompanied by Nick Powell’s sparse music, performed on a single piano in front of the stage by Candida Caldicot. It’s an unusual but incredibly effective theatrical experience. The focus is on the history of Lehman Brothers and the development of Western capitalism: there isn’t much detail about the causes of the 2008 crash. But it’s a fascinating story, brilliantly acted.

'Things in Jars' by Jess Kidd

5 August 2019

We seem to be living in a golden age for detective/fantasy/science fiction novels set in Victorian England. I’ve written here recently about the ‘Newbury and Hobbes’ series by George Mann (‘The Affinity Bridge’, reviewed here in June 2019) and I’ve just finished reading ‘Things in Jars’ by Jess Kidd (as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Jacqueline Milne). ‘Things in Jars’ is a much more literary work, each sentence beautifully crafted in the manner of a poet. The mystery centres on a missing child but takes us into a world of collectors of scientific curios, weird creatures and circuses. It reminded me of another recent novel of Victoriana, 'The Essex Serpent' by Sarah Perry (reviewed here in September 2016) but ‘Things in Jars’ has the driving plot I longed for in my review of Sarah Perry’s novel. The almost incidental appearance of a ghost assisting the detective also made me think of 'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovitch (reviewed here in June 2018). ‘Things in Jars’ is an unusual, compelling thriller and, in Bridie Devine – the flame haired, pipe smoking Irish detective with the ugly hat, Jess Kidd has created a wonderful lead character that deserves a series of novels.

'Big Sky' by Kate Atkinson

30 July 2019

What a treat to return to the world of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels after so many years. The fifth novel in the series, ‘Big Sky’, belatedly follows ‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ (reviewed here in April 2011). Jackson Brodie (and several other returning characters) have moved on since then but ‘Big Sky’ is a familiarly multi-stranded mystery, most of which Brodie the private investigator seems unaware of until it bumps into him. The subject matter is particularly grim this time, with a story of child sexual abuse and modern slavery. But Atkinson manages to find humour in dark corners. I love the way each character’s interior thoughts are frequently answered by someone else (in a kind of flashback to when they had previously discussed the same points). And it was lovely to read ‘Big Sky’ as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Jason Isaacs, who played Jackson Brodie in the TV adaptations of the earlier novels.

WOMAD 2019

30 July 2019

My annual visit to the WOMAD Festival, in Charlton Park near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, was slightly shorter than usual this year as we were attending a wedding in Lancashire last Friday. But I made it to WOMAD for Saturday and Sunday and experienced near perfect weather – dry and warm, not too hot and not a drop of rain. The music was pretty good too. I saw 14 full performances from across the globe. My highlights included the other worldly ethereal sounds of South Saami singer Marja Mortensson from Norway joiking accompanied by electronics, percussion and tuba. The former child soldier turned rapper Emmanuel Jal from South Sudan is a brilliant showman, performing here with his sister Nyaruach from whom he was separated for 20 years. I enjoyed the exuberant set by Balkan brass/klezmer band Lemon Bucket Orkestra from Toronto. And it was great to see ‘Kraftwerk Re:Werk’ - a  symphonic reworking of the classic 1977 Kraftwerk album ‘Trans-Europe Express’ by composers Charlotte Harding and Lloyd Coleman. The performance of this 40-minute, 6-movement piece by Army of Generals and the British Paraorchestra (the orchestra of professional disabled musicians originally formed for the London 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony) conducted by Charles Hazlewood was stunning. I also really enjoyed seeing Orquesta Akokan – a gloriously old-fashioned band from Cuba playing traditional mambo and swing from the 1940s and 1950s. But my pick of the festival was the six piece vocal group San Salvador, from the Massif Central in southern France, who sing in Occitan, mostly a capella but with occasional drums and other percussion. Their scrunchy vocal harmonies (sung by three men and three women) reminded me of my favourite Finnish folk/rock band Värttinä (reviewed here in August 2006) and of the famous Sardinian singing shepherds, Tenores de Bitti (reviewed here in June 2007). I loved how theatrical each of San Salvador’s long and varied songs were, while being performed with a serious intensity. There was no imploring the audience to clap along nor any need to whoop up the crowd – just a hypnotic performance of vocal drones, rapid fire chanting (sounding at times like the auctioneer in a livestock sale) and complex accelerating rhythms. And the massive crowd in the Siam Tent responded with the most genuine and prolonged wave of adulation of the weekend. Take a look at San Salvador performing at Womex 2018 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgUhP9qQYBw And you can see a selection of my photos from WOMAD 2019 at: https://culturaloutlook.blogspot.com/search/label/WOMAD2019

The Anniversary Games 2019

24 July 2019

On Saturday we made our first return, seven years after London 2012, to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London to watch the Anniversary Games IAAF Diamond League Athletics meeting in the Olympic Stadium. It was great to be back, and wonderful to see some high quality, competitive international athletics. Athletics competitions always seem to be meticulously choreographed, slickly alternating between track races and field events so there is always something to watch. Some of the highlights for me from Saturday were watching a magnificent Laura Muir win an impressive 1500, seeing one of the stars of the 2012 Paralympics, Jonnie Peacock, back to winning ways, Norwegian Karsten Warholm setting a new European record in the 400m hurdles, and the Jamaican sprinter Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce running a storming final leg to dip ahead of the Great Britain team in the 4x100m relay. You can see a selection of my photos from the Anniversary Games at: https://culturaloutlook.blogspot.com/search/label/AnniversaryGames2019

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by William Shakespeare

18 July 2019

We last saw the Lord Chamberlain’s Men when they performed ‘Twelfth Night’ in the gardens of Woburn Abbey in 2009 (reviewed here in August 2009). This all male outdoor theatre company, a re-creation of Shakespeare’s original troupe of travelling players, specialises in traditional performances of Shakespeare plays. There are no modern references, props or gimmicks, just a group of excellent actors in full Elizabethan costume – with all the female parts played by men. On Wednesday we were back at Woburn Abbey to see the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in Peter Stickney’s excellent production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It was another high quality performance that really gives you an idea of what it might have been like to see the play in Shakespeare’s time. Unlike many of the touring outdoor theatre companies, there is no breaking of the fourth wall, ad-libbing with the audience or pinching food from people’s picnics – just good acting which takes you into the imaginary world of the play and reminds you how good it is, and how funny.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

16 July 2019

On Sunday I played in the Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s annual Friends’ Concert, bringing to an end our 125th anniversary concert season. This end of season party is an exclusive concert for the Friends of the Orchestra who have supported NSO over the past year. It gives the orchestra the chance to play a variety of shorter pieces that wouldn’t fit into a standard concert programme, and finishes with a buffet for the Friends and the orchestra. This year our conductor, John Gibbons, programmed two English folk songs delightfully arranged for strings by Frank Bridge (‘Sally in Our Alley’ and ‘Cherry Ripe’) followed by the ‘Capriol Suite’ by Peter Warlock, not in the original version for string orchestra but alternating between two arrangements for brass and woodwind. The main focus of the concert was a performance of the two suites from Edvard Grieg’s incidental music to ‘Peer Gynt’, which we played in the order they appear in Ibsen’s play so that John could give the audience his personal interpretation of the story of Peer Gynt (a play he admitted he has never seen!) between the movements. It is a bonkers story – worth watching this excellent Classics Explained YouTube video if you aren’t familiar with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBgPqhBUE2o The orchestra played beautifully, with woodwind impressing in ‘Morning’, strings showing precision in the chromatic challenges of ‘Anitra’s Dance’ and brass powering us through ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’. But the stars of the show were the tuba and trombone players joining the percussion section for the ‘Arabian Dance’! We finished the concert with the third movement of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No 6 (Pathétique)’ - that famous glorious march that is usually punctured by the angst of the symphony’s final movement, but here was allowed to remain as a triumphant finale to our concert and our anniversary season.