August 2004 Newsletter - Cheltenham Music...

August 2011 CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL SOCIETY VOL. 30, NO. 2

NEWSLETTERThe first Festival that the Society supported was the one in1952. 500 guineas had been raised from members of thenewly-formed society including donations from localindustry. It was largely because of these funds and theenthusiasm of members of the Society that the CheltenhamFestival of British Contemporary Music was able tocontinue. Over the years sources of support have changed,the name of the Festival has changed and the managementstructure of the Festival has changed, but the Society hascontinued to be one of the principal sponsors. It was in partto reflect the changes that have been made that we agreed atthe AGM in March to change our name. We are now theCheltenham Music Festival Society, with the same aims asbefore - to support the Music Festival.

This year we have been able to give financial support tothe Festival as a whole, also to the education activities andwe commissioned a new work by the local composer, GavinHiggins. In view of our history it was specially pleasing thatthe Society was associated in the programme with concertsof new music - Counterpoise, with new works by DavidMatthews and Edward Rushton, and Flotilla when the newpiece by Gavin Higgins wa s presented.

While new music as usual featured strongly in this year'sfestival (noting that the concert with Evelyn Glennie drewthe largest audience for contemporary music for manyyears), Meurig Bowen contrived a Festival programme witha wide range of appeal. The emphasis in the Pump Room waspredominantly on the classical repertoire, but elsewhere

there was an extensive choice. The series of concerts ofpercussion music and the discussions on mathematics andmusic added an interesting dimension. The concerts in theParabola Centre are establishing themselves and have builtup new audiences. The concerts of the Academy were someof the highlights of the Festival; it is to be hoped that theAcademy will continue in future years. Members of theSociety have been generous in responding to appeals for theirsupport.

During the Festival the Society organised a verysuccessful lunch for Benefactors after the stunning recital byFlorian Boesch. The Reception for members, at the invitationof Meurig Bowen, was held at St. Andrew's. My thanks toJill, Jo and Mary from the committee and all the othermembers who helped to make these events so enjoyable.And, of course, a huge thanks to Meurig, and to AlexisPaterson and Annabel Marsland and all the assistants at theFestival who made the Festival so special.

The big musical event of September is the premiere ofRichard Blackford's new choral work Not in Our Timepresented by the Cheltenham Music Festival, and we aredelighted to have an interview with Richard in thisnewsletter. We also have Alexis Paterson describing herexperiences behind the scenes of the Festival and yourverdict on the music you heard. In addition there are anumber of exciting social events in store.

Jim Harrison

Chairman’s Message

Music Festival Manager Alexis Paterson gives us a rareglimpse behind the scenes of the Festival and picks out somehighlights.

As I (slowly) begin to relax after the frenzy of activitythat is the behind-the-scenes of the music festival, yournewsletter editor throws one more deadline at me "fourhundred words on your festival reflections please!" Soamongst a sea of invoices, PRS returns, and planning forRichard Blackford's premiere in September, I'll take amoment to recollect a few of my personal highlights (andsome rather unexpected events!).

From the very first day the early starts were made apleasure by the opportunity to catch a few moments on thesun-soaked colonnade at the Pump Room once the artists'rehearsals were underway, and admire the beautifulsurroundings these concerts take place in. The new-musicaficionado in me was well-served with the Venables, Butler

and Sierra premieres that I experienced in the Pump Room.The Carducci Quartet's performance was a particularpleasure for me - not only because I find them somagnificently focused and energetic when they play, butbecause the Shostakovich is one of my all-time-favouritestring quartets. I was also charmed (as I'm sure the rest of theaudience was) by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's amusing snippetsof explanation before each piece, and I can't wait to welcomehim back again next year.

The percussion strand was a great success, but also thecause of some headaches. Imagine my surprise when anenormous truck delivered no fewer than 36 huge boxes of flatpack marimbas and vibraphones courtesy of the generoussupport of Adams instrument manufacturers. What theyhadn't mentioned was that these rather complicatedinstruments (that normally arrive in a few flight cases andjust slot together) would need to be built from scratch and

Reflection on my first ever Cheltenham Festival

Continued on Page 2

12141 CFS newsletter August 2011 8pp_August 2004 Newsletter 01/08/2011 11:21

then disassembled, repackaged, and sent back to Holland.Imagine taking your Ikea wardrobe back down and fitting itall, jigsaw-like, back into its box, and you'll be some way topicturing the challenges this presented (and yes, in true Ikeafashion, there was a rather specialist screw missing in onebox)! Still, after an all-hands-on-deck afternoon we hadseveral marimbas and a couple of vibraphones lined up inhallways of the Town Hall, and they sounded glorious insome of my favourite concerts of the festival: Colin Currie'sDrumming extravaganza, Fitkin's toe-tapping 9-pieceensemble over at Parabola, and Kuniko Kato's fantasticarrangements of Reich's Counterpoints.

Kuniko also made it down to Rise record store in theBeechwood shopping centre for a short performance onvibraphone. In typical Japanese fashion, her entouragephotographed everything, and they've just sent me a snap ofKuniko posing with two community support officers in anight-time high street and the shopping centre sign. It wasfantastic to speak to surprised shoppers who'd never seen orheard anything like Kuniko, and I definitely saw some lessfamiliar faces across our percussion weekend. It's always a

personal highlight when someone tells you they've enjoyedsomething they didn't expect to or have never seen before.We also trialled our personal shopper service this year, so ithas been lovely reading the emails of people who tried outour recommendations and loved what they heard.

Another couple of really special concerts for me were theHardanger fiddle and singing of Jorun Marie Kverberg, andthe violin/dance duo of Ragnhild Hemsing and HallgrimHansegard. Both were beautifully performed and trulyenchanting ways to end each day. The fiery Mussorgskyfrom my former colleagues at the Bournemouth SymphonyOrchestra was also a treat and a little trip down memory lane(they still get through as unbelievable a number of biscuitsas I remember!). As I left Parabola after Greek I felt asthough I'd caught a very rare event. All in all it was afantastically varied (and exhausting!) festival. It's beenlovely to see so many Festival Society faces at all sorts ofconcerts, and as well as providing much-appreciatedfinancial support many of you have been supporting thefestival by offering rehearsal venues and helping hands of allsorts. I hope you've all had as many highlights as me.

There are no prizes for guessing what the major event inSeptember will be. On the 11th the Bournemouth SymphonyOrchestra and Chorus will be at the Town Hall to give thepremiere of Richard Blackford's Not in Our Time. (Richardgives an interview on Page 4 in this newsletter).

The following week on 17th the BBC National Orchestraof Wales will be bringing their Principal ConductorDesignate, Thomas SØndergård, to conduct Messiaen, Saint-Saëns and Sibelius with cellist Steven Isserlis. The BSO willbe back on Friday 4th November with the Russian violinistAlina Pogostkina and Polish conductor Krzysztof Urbánskiin a programme of Grieg, Dvorák and Smetana. OxfordPhilomusica will follow them on Tuesday 15th with JohnLill playing the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor.

Cheltenham Contemporary Concerts go from strength tostrength. The cold snap may have put paid to TangoSiempre's performance in the last series, but fortunately theirconcert has been rescheduled for Tuesday October 18th.Although it normally takes two to tango this remarkableensemble comprises four musicians.

On Wednesday November 9th we have a visit from theCarducci Quartet who caused quite a buzz at this year'sMusic Festival with their playing of Insects in Amber byArlene Sierra. Despite their foreign sounding name twomembers of the quartet have local roots and the other two areIrish. They will be performing a stimulating programme ofWebern, Glass, Kurtag and Shostakovich.

The local Scottish community should be turning out inforce on Saturday November 26th (just four days short of St.Andrew's Day) to cheer on the Scottish Clarinet Quartet. Thehighlight of their programme will be the English premiere ofSong of the Earth by Matt Rogers in which the wild, naturalworld of the Isle of Skye will be evoked by music played onfour bass clarinets and images by Terry Williams.

Cheltenham Chamber Concerts get off to a promisingstart with the Gould Piano Trio on Tuesday October 4th, theLondon Haydn Quartet on Wednesday November 2nd andthe fabulous baritone Njabulo Madlala on TuesdayNovember 15th.

Concertgoers who have been bemoaning the lack ofMahler performances locally in this the composer'scentenary year should take note that the CheltenhamSymphony Orchestra's concert on Saturday 8th October inTewkesbury Abbey features his Sixth Symphony. Theircolleagues in Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra play Baroquemusic on Saturday September 25th in St. Andrew's and anall-Mendelssohn programme on Saturday November 19th.

A Musical Autumn

2

v


3

Wonderful, Superb, Amazing Stile Antico in Gloucester Cathedral gave a wonderful startto the Festival; the soaring voices in the cathedral were quitemagical. Florian Boesch and Roger Vignoles gave awonderful recital at the Pump Room; Florian Boesch, apartfrom having a superb voice, really brings the songs to life.We also enjoyed Tine Thing Helseth at Cirencester Churchwith Katherine Watson (soprano) and Carleton Etherington(organ); Carleton Etherington's organ playing was quiteamazing! Other highlights were the Jerusalem Quartet at thePump Room, Natalie Clein and friends in the Pump Room,and the Oriel Singers and St. Cecilia Singers in CheltenhamCollege Chapel.

AW

Norwegian Contribution RavishingThis was a superb Festival, full of interesting things, manyof the highest standard.

We had tickets for 41 events, but were unable to use onewhere we were at a reception, but bought two or three moreduring the course of the Festival. With this sort of number,there must be disappointments, and there were, but very few,and even these had their points of interest - Greek, forexample. I was unable to dismiss from my mind myrecollections of an RSC production many years ago ofOedipus Rex (on which Greek is based), full of intenseaction, emotion and absolutely haunting music, none ofwhich I found here. Everything was rather wooden, the textan unnatural juxtaposition of crude obscenities and high-flown poetic declamation; and, except at one stage, themusic was memorable only for being so unmemorable.

The morning Pump Room concerts were all veryworthwhile, disappointments few and mainly minor,highpoints very high indeed, Florian Boesch in particular,highly emotional songs, not so much performed by Boeschas experienced by him,. strongly supported, as ever, byRoger Vignoles. Spellbinding. Toby Spence too, particularlyin the Janácek work, Diary of One who Disappeared. Justone question mark: need he have been as strident as when Ifirst heard him sing this work in the vast Usher Hall in anEdinburgh Festival concert a few years ago?

Allan Clayton has matured since his rather hesitantperformance of two years ago, and Natalie Clein'sperformance of the Kodály Opus 8 was superb

The string quartets were all at least good, but a coupleappeared to suffer from the common phenomenon of afalling-off of quality in their quartet repertoire works whenfollowed by piano quintet or quartet with a pianist withwhom they do not have an established relationship.Concentration on the piano work often results in lessadequate preparation of the purely string works.

The choral concerts, all in ecclesiastic settings, were allbeautifully sung, and all beautiful if you are not tooconcerned about the words. But in three of them, the forces,all singing can belto, were such as to ensure that the highlyresonant acoustic won the battle. Cathedral (and Abbey)choirs generally consist only of 16 treble voices at most and6 (or 12) men's voices, and the services are generally sung,quite gently, in the Choir, not the nave. So the combinedboys' choir in Tewkesbury, the Magdalena Consort (4 voices)plus small baroque orchestra (also at Tewkesbury), and, bestof all, the Brabant Ensemble, singing with great restraint inAll Saints' Church were all gems to treasure.

The Norwegian contributions were all ravishing - notonly Leif Ove Andsnes, from whom we expect nothing else,but also trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth in Cirencester ParishChurch. The film of the male voice choir seemed at first tobe rather pathetically poor, but soon developed into a verymoving view of the activities of a small community in the farnorth of Norway - and their trip to Murmansk was hilarious.Last but not least, the two late night concerts featuring theHardanger Fiddle, were rather special, especially the dancesby Hallgrimm Hansegard, very acrobatic, but clearly of folkorigin.

The programme booklet was excellent in its new format,but some of us, such as myself, would have preferred theprevious A4 size.

Smudger

Where were Liszt and Mahler? In 2010 we were saturated with Schumann on hisbicentenary. If anniversaries need to be celebrated whathappened to Liszt and Mahler this year?

Florian Boesch, Toby Spence and Leif Ove Andsnes werehigh quality events, Toby's singing of Diary of One whoDisappeared, in particular. The London Philharmonic andBournemouth Symphony Orchestra were not what we mayhave expected. It was good to hear the original version ofNight on a Bare Mountain, but Pictures at an Exhibitionsounded vulgar.

When chamber music is played is it normal to have the pianolid fully open? Today's pianos are larger and more powerfulthan used to be the case, and we felt that much of thechamber music with piano was unbalanced, the pianodrowning the other instruments. So perhaps using half-stickwould be better. That said, the Festival had a good feel andwas very enjoyable.

NF and AH

Your Views of the 2011 Festival

v


An Interview with Richard BlackfordNot in our time, O Lord

The ploughshare for the sword.

September 11th 2011 marks the tenth anniversary ofthe attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. Itwill also see the premiere in Cheltenham of a newchoral work Not in Our Time by Richard Blackfordwhich explores an extremely topical and relevantsubject: the relationship between Christianity andIslam. Here Richard talks about the work.

Where did the idea of Not in Our Time springfrom?

RB. I've always been interested in writing a piece about theCrusades and the idea of people going to war for a spiritualreason. When doing research some years ago it struck methat the Crusaders made war because they felt God was ontheir side, and the Muslims they were fighting also believedGod was on their side. Later I saw a TV programme whichshowed George Bush talking about a "crusade" and a "waron terror" which sent shock waves through the Arab world.Although in the West the crusades are viewed as somethingthat happened a very long time ago, for many Arabs theyhave never stopped; they perceive the Western invasion ofIraq in terms of a crusade and see the Israelis as crusaders -so it isn't just a Christian thing. I thought it would beinteresting to juxtapose texts from the post-9/11 era withtexts from the First Crusade. The more I researched, themore I found a great similarity between the language ofthose people who whipped up the populace to go to war inGod's name.

Are you taking sides in this work?

RB. I'm certainly not taking sides because I don't see anyneed for conflict between Islam and the West. If I'm takingsides at all, it's against people who manipulate others to doawful things in God's name.

There are amazing similarities between the words ofMohammed Ben Zeky after the fall of Jerusalem when he istalking about jihad and holy war and the things Al Qaedasaid after 9/11. George W Bush talked about a crusade andthen Al Qaeda started accusing Bush and the others of being"crusaders". Even this year when Qaddafi was under fire, hetalked about "crusader missiles". This concept is still verymuch embedded in the Arab consciousness. So part of mypiece is about understanding this sensitivity towards"crusades", and I hope it will show Arabs that the crusadermentality is not prevalent or wished for by most good peoplein the West. Finally, I read Barack Obama's speech at CairoUniversity in 2009. I feel it's a wonderful speech - one of thegreat speeches of our century - but highly underrated. In it he

says there is nothing to separate us in our wish for peace, andthat the young people of Cairo and the rest of the Arab worldhave the ability to change the world and effectively put anend to this crusader mentality. He quotes from three of thegreat religious books - the Koran, the Talmud and the Bible.all of which express the desire for peace.

Have you used a specially commissioned text?

RB. No. I've used original texts from the eleventh andtwenty-first centuries. I also found a wonderful poem by theAmerican poet Hilda Doolittle, Not in Our Time, which givesthe work its title. It utters a plea that we should turn ourswords into ploughshares. It's a recurrent theme whichunifies the whole piece.

Can you say something about the structure of thework?

RB. It's written for a tenor soloist, a baritone soloist, an adultchorus and a children's chorus - the children play animportant role - plus an orchestra, of course. All the settingsof Christian texts are sung by the tenor soloist, and theMuslim texts are sung by a baritone. For the performanceI've asked the soloists to stand on either side of theconductor, who is rather like a mediator between the two ofthem. At the end they both come together to sing BarackObama's words in unison or one octave apart (like the priestsin The Magic Flute), because in my view one of Obama'sgreat contributions is to try and unify East and West. Thechorus then take up the material and it builds up to theconclusion of the work.

Not in Our Time has been commissioned by theBournemouth Symphony Chorus. How did youbecome involved with them?

RB. They approached me. They had heard my work Mirrorof Perfection and wanted to record it. Then to commemoratetheir 90th anniversary they commissioned Voices of Exilefrom me, and this was a very good experience for both sides,including the educational programme attached to it. We wentinto a number of schools to talk about refugees and how thiswork sets their music - and even took along some of thepoets involved.

As the Chorus were approaching their centenary, theycame to me again and asked if I would like write anotherlarge piece for them. This one lasts fifty-five minuteswithout a break.

4


5

How did the Chorus react to the controversialsubject matter?

RB. The Secretary of the BSC immediately saw the potentialof the theme. She's a very staunch supporter of AmnestyInternational and closely involved with human rights. Therewere some people who raised their eyebrows and concernswere expressed at a committee meeting. But David Hill, whohad conducted the recording of Voices of Exile, said theyshould trust that I would handle this theme in the right way.

When they saw the first draft of the libretto, I think theirfears were allayed. I also sent it to three or four prominentMuslims and their letters came back saying that they foundmy treatment even-handed and certainly not offensive. Ofcourse the vitriolic language of Pope Urban II launching theFirst Crusade might upset a few people, but the work as awhole does not adopt a partisan approach.

Would you like to have the work performed in theMiddle East?

RB. My dream would be to have it performed in Jerusalem -ideally by Daniel Barenboim and the East-Western DivanOrchestra made up of Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs.

Incidentally, we have the American premiere in Chicago inMay of next year. That's Obama's town and, of course, we'llinvite him - and I hope he comes.

Have you any more projects in the pipeline?

RB. I'd like to write another choral work on a particularpolitical subject which will be intensely exciting anddramatic. I'm not sure exactly how it will work - I haven'tcreated the libretto yet - but I'd be thrilled if some person orgroup professed an interest. I find writing for choruses,particularly amateur choruses, immensely satisfying and it'sso exciting to hear your work performed by 250 people.

Not in Our Time will be premiered at 6pm on 11th Septemberat Cheltenham Town Hall by the Bournemouth SymphonyOrchestra and Chorus, conductor Gavin Carr with PaulNilon (tenor) and Stephen Gadd (baritone). The guestnarrator for Copland's A Lincoln Portrait will be SimonCallow.

SUNDAY 27th NOVEMBER 2011at 3 pm

TEA AND TALK with RICHARD BLACKFORD

St. Andrew's Church,Montpellier Street

Richard will talk about his approaches tocomposing for various genres but with

particular reference to NOT IN OUR TIME.Richard will play a few audio clips to illustrateand there will be time for questions before you

embark on a substantial tea. Do try andsupport this social/fundraising event which

promises to bea fascinating event.

HEAR NIOT on SEPTEMBER 11th HEAR MORE about it on

NOVEMBER 27th

Tickets are 10 per person. Please reply to JillBacon by Tuesday 13th September after

hearing the premiere.

Photo credit: Edward Salter


6

In Praise of Young People

We caught some great piano playing: James Rhodes'amazing encore “in the style of Jimi Hendrix” after his Bachconcerto with the splendid Festival Academy Strings;Francesco Piemontesi's reflective Kinderszenen; anincredibly dramatic Prokofiev sonata from KatiaBuniatishvili; and an absorbing morning with Jean-EfflamBavouzet - not only a great exponent, but also an engagingexplainer. We hope these players will be back in 2012.

The premieres we encountered proved accessible. Thebeguiling music of Martin Butler's Rondes d'automne nonetmade us wonder why this instrumental combination hasn'tbeen used more often. Arlene Sierra's Insects in Amber wasmost entertaining - unusually, an American bringing us thelatest cricket score!

Creative programming - the Bliss-centred triple bill (film,talk, concert) - worked very well; maybe this could be triedfor other composers. The chance to hear groups twice -Elberle, Piemontesi and Altstaedt plus Clein, Leschenko,Mitchell and Rysanov on the final weekend - was also verywelcome.

The Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra concert has becomean essential item on our Festival shopping-list. It's a heart-warming, celebratory occasion - one of the most festiveitems on the programme, though the conductor has to startrebuilding the orchestra every year as the 18 year olds leave.What dedication!

Over the whole festival no group contributes more thanthe team of young volunteers, energetically multi-tasking -shopkeepers, ticket-checkers, stage furniture arrangers,page-turners, etc. - always unfailingly cheerful and helpful.What with the astonishingly youthful appearance of most ofthe musicians we can only conclude that today's youngpeople are marvellous.

M & JS

Oriel and St. Cecilia Singers Score Highly

This was another enjoyable Music Festival - full ofinteresting events and no worse for being shorter thanpreviously. Highlights for me included the Pavel HaasQuartet, Toby Spence and the dramatic opening scene atGloucester Cathedral with Stile Antico using El Greco'spictures to set the scene.

At Tewkesbury Abbey Ben Nicholas and AdrianPartington with their choirs provided a wonderful concert ina perfect setting. Later in the day at the Town Hall theLondon Philharmonic was fine but overpowered AmandaRoocroft's singing of Strauss's Four Last Songs.

The performances by Gloucestershire Young Musicians(Tomoya Forster - saxophone, Jonny Hyde - baritone and

Andy McDade - tuba) at the Town Hall were most enjoyable.The piano accompaniment was by a very young pianistwhose playing was sheer delight.

If I had to say which concert I enjoyed most of all, Iwould name the combined Oriel and St. Cecilia Singersevent at Cheltenham College. Sadly, at Tewkesbury Abbeythe acoustics did not favour the Magdalena Consort; I gatherthat it depended on where one was sitting and soundedperfect on the radio.

I wanted to support some of the lighter events and couldsee the large audiences that came to them, so I will not needto repeat the experience! My final event was at the ParabolaArts Centre to hear Counterpoise, being tempted to listenagain to the narrators in Façade. Donald Maxwell came overloud and clear, but the quieter tones of Eleanor Bron wereinaudible. So I am off to get a hearing aid ready for nextyear!

Apart from these minor difficulties this year's Festivalwas most enjoyable and a great credit to its organisers.

EE

A Well Balanced Festival

Overall, I thought this was another fine Cheltenham Festivalwith a very good balance between standard repertoire and avery wide range of new music.

My own main interest is in the morning chamberconcerts, and I had tickets for 11 of the 12 (only Bavouzet'sprogramme did not appeal - Liszt is one of my "blind-spots")though, in the event, a family funeral forced me to missFlorian Boesch's recital as well. I gather I missed a treat! Itwas very heartening to see three strong programmes of song,though perhaps they could have been more evenly spreadthrough the festival. The two I attended did not disappoint -indeed, Toby Spence's was outstanding.

As always, the quality of the chamber concerts andrecitals varied somewhat, but all of them were of a highstandard, and several of them extremely good. My"performances of the festival" were Fauré's Second PianoQuintet (Academy Soloists), Ravel's Violin & Cello Sonata(Waley-Cohen/Rosefield), Schubert's "Wanderer" Fantasy(Melnikov), Janácek's Diary of one who disappeared (TobySpence etc.), Shostakovich's Piano Quintet(Escher/Buniatishvili), Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata(Andsnes) and Kodály's Solo Cello Sonata (Clein) - with theJanácek and Shostakovich sharing "First Prize".

It seems almost unbelievable that this was the seventhyear of the Festival Academy, and long may it continue!However, I found their Town Hall concert, with DameEvelyn Glennie, a little disappointing - not because of theplaying, which was excellent, but because I didn't find any ofthe four pieces particularly interesting. Joseph Phibbs' Bar

More Views on the Festival

v

v


Veloce was conceptually the strongest - music to reflect thenames of different cocktails - but didn't fully deliver inpractice. Also I am sure I wasn't the only member of theaudience finding it difficult to follow which "cocktail" wewere listening to at any particular time. Surely somesimplified form of surtitles could have been installed to helpus?

The Academy's second concert in the Pump Room wasquite different: four interesting and contrasting worksperformed extremely well. Pärt's Tabula Rasa was verymoving to finish with. It is such a pity that we had to put upwith James Rhodes' unsuitable encore after the Bach.

Of the two concerts in Tewkesbury Abbey, the JointChoristers performed the two Britten works well, but the restof their programme seemed lacklustre. The MagdalenaConcert were excellent, though the use of just four solosingers in the choruses seemed unwise in the cantatas andfoolhardy in the Motet. However I am conscious that I wassitting close to the front for both these concerts; those sittingfurther back did not seem to enjoy them much.

It was nice to hear such a wide range of new music. It wasa pity that the Counterpoise concert was largely a write-offsimply because one could not hear what the narrators weresaying. The three new pieces I liked most were Ian Venables'Remember This, Charlotte Bray's Replay, and Arlene Sierra'sInsects in Amber.

Finally one small word of complaint. I felt, increasinglyas the week went on, that the Parabola Arts Centre is lessthan ideal for Festival events. It looks fabulous when youfirst go in, but the seats are very uncomfortable (and far toonarrow - a particular problem for me!) and the acoustics arenot very good. Also the front two rows are far too close tothe stage and well below it - yet the computer offers them asthe "best available" when you are buying tickets.

ABC, Birmingham

Four Hits and One Miss

My attendances were limited this year to five concerts in thefirst week. The Boesch/Vignoles song recital was hailed byeveryone I spoke to as superb, so I find myself in a minorityin not having enjoyed the programme at all. I think it mayhave been the singer's style which irritated me somewhat; thesongs did not have much variety and the voice was oftendrowned by the piano.

The three chamber recitals I attended were quite anothermatter and I enjoyed them all immensely. The Pavel HaasQuartet, in addition to my favourite Schubert “Death and theMaiden”, gave a superb account of Janácek's “IntimateLetters” Quartet.

The two other quartet recitals had the show stolen bytheir guest pianists., Alexander Melnikov with the JerusalemQuartet in Schubert's “Wanderer” Fantasia, and theglamorous Khatia Buniatishvili with the Escher Quartet

giving a positively stunning hard-driven account ofProkofiev's Seventh Sonata. We were all as breathless as shewas after such a tour de force. She also performed very wellin Shostakovich's Piano Quintet - arguably the composer'sgreatest and most admired chamber work.

The orchestral concert by the London Philharmonicconducted by the dour Vladimir Jurowski brought us aRussian version of Brahms' Fourth Symphony, but this didnot detract from an otherwise great performance. Thebeautiful Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss, sung withgreat feeling by Amanda Roocroft, moved many of us,including myself, almost to tears. I heard a number ofcomplaints that the orchestra was too loud for the singer butsitting in the front row I heard every word. I fear the TownHall acoustic may have been the problem.

It was good to see the raised seating still in place in theTown Hall. Would that something similar could be installedin the Pump Room to allow those who sit at the rear a chanceto see the players. Many thanks to Meurig for providinganother varied and interesting festival. I am sorry that I wasunable to attend more concerts.

WLH, Birmingham

Opera was Greek to Me

As you know I am a great opera-lover, so I made a specialvisit to the Cotswolds this year to hear Verdi's masterpiece,Falstaff, performed at Longborough, which was excellentdespite being performed in translation.

While there I learned that the Music Festival was puttingon an opera, too, entitled Greek. Since we Italians share acommon heritage with the Greeks (except that they'rehopeless at managing their public finances!) I felt I shouldgive it a try.

Unfortunately, having never studied Cockney, I hadproblems in understanding the language used. I asked agentleman sitting next to me in the audience to explain someof the terms, but he turned bright red and refused to haveanything to do with me. Are you English losing your goodmanners?

Lucia Puccini, Milano

v

Here and There

The wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Apriltended to overshadow another happy event at TewkesburyAbbey, which did not go unnoticed in musical circles. Wetake this opportunity to congratulate Meurig Bowen on hismarriage to Rachel - and also daughter Raffaella whowitnessed the occasion sporting a Mohican haircut.

We also welcome three new members to the CMFSCommittee: Judith Ginatt, Philip Stapleton and NormanFyfe.

7


Opening Night was the highlight

The decision to reduce the number of days of the Festivalthis year worked very well. It meant that I was less bemusedand brain-addled by the bombardment of so much culture.Although there were a couple of events which, on reflection,I would prefer not to have attended, overall it was a mostenjoyable festival.

The powerful baritone voice of Florian Boesch and TobySpence's rendering of Schumann's Dichterliebe and hisdelivery of Janácek's drama The Diary of One whoDisappeared with such clear diction was truly impressive,but why were there so many empty seats? People shouldhave been queuing round the block to hear them! Did theyanticipate it would be all heart-ache, doom, gloom anddespair?

At Twilight in Cheltenham College Chapel with theglorious voices of the Oriel Singers and the St. CeciliaSingers was very special as was the concert in TewkesburyAbbey by the choristers of Gloucester Cathedral andTewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum.

The talk by Stephen Jackson To the Power of Three madean interesting introduction to Bach's fascination withnumerical symbolism and an admirable preliminary to theperformance of the Magdalena Consort which followed inthe Abbey. This probably sounded better on the radio as Iunderstand the balance was improved by the technicians;nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable concert.

The real gem was a lunch-time event given by threeGloucestershire Young Musicians, all three of whomdoubtless have promising careers ahead of them. But notmentioned in the programme was pianist JonathanMcNaught who accompanied the saxophonist TomoyaForster with such sensitivity and expertise for one so young.

But the highlight if the whole Festival for me was surelythe opening evening. Xavier Bray's illustrated talk on thework of El Greco delivered with such enthusiasm offered awonderful introduction to The Immortal Glory of Spain byStile Antico a truly memorable concert. Well done, Meurig- and a big thank you to you and all your hard-workingcolleagues.

JM

Another View of the Festival

Social EventsFriday 21st October 2011

DUKE BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE

Trip to Symphony Hall, Birmingham to hear and see thisBartók classic together with Debussy's L'après-midi d'unfaune and Janácek's Sinfonietta performed by Esa-PekkaSalonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra with Sir JohnTomlinson (as Bluebeard) and Measha Brueggergosman. Agroundbreaking video installation transforms the Hall intothe lair of one of music's greatest villains. A grippingevening awaits.

Cost (Coach and Concert): £31

DEPART RACECOURSE PARK AND RIDE at 5pm.

Application form enclosed.

Please reply by FRIDAY 26th AUGUST to Jill Bacon, Only25 tickets are available, so please reply early.

Friday 3rd February 2012

CAPTAIN SCOTT CENTENARY

at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

This special concert retraces Captain Scott's ill-fatedexpedition to the South Pole in music (Vaughan Williams'haunting Sinfonia Antartica) and with fascinating originalexpedition photographs and moving extracts from Scott'sdiary read by Ben Fogle.

On this occasion the seats reserved are in the Upper Circle asthere will be a big screen which could cause you neckache ifsitting in the stalls for a similarly priced ticket.

Cost: £31.50 (coach and ticket)

DEPART RACECOURSE PARK AND RIDE 5pm

Please reply to Jill Bacon by 20th SEPTEMBER.

Opera TripsThe trip to Don Giovanni in Cardiff in October has been

cancelled because it will be broadcast from the Met later thatmonth. Instead there will be a trip to La Sonnambula atCovent Garden on Thursday 10 November and booking forthat has now closed. There will be a talk about the opera byRobert Padgett (Chairman of the Cheltenham Opera Society)at 7pm on Wednesday 19 October at St Andrew's Church,Montpellier Street.

There will be trips to the WNO in Cardiff to see Beatriceand Benedict (Berlioz) on Friday 17 February 2012 and

Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) on Saturday 19 May 2012. Asusual there will be talks about these operas before we go anddates will be in the next newsletter. Booking forms will besent out nearer to the respective dates.

If you would like to go to operas and you have notalready given him your details, please send your address,phone number and e-mail address to Robert Padgett, 14Century Court, Montpellier Grove, Cheltenham GL502XR, 01242 571802, [email protected].

8

v

v


August 2004 Newsletter - Cheltenham Music...

Documents

Transcript of August 2004 Newsletter - Cheltenham Music...