Two unexpected delights

[tamaranth]

Two free concerts, two nice surprises.
1. Music for the Festive Season at Newnham, 28.11.10 (thanks to anef for inviting me!)
The hall at Newnham has glorious acoustics and the music was lovely too -- mostly French, Faure Pavane and Cantique de Jean Racine, excerpts from Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ and Trio for Two Flutes and Harp, and the Nice Surprise which was Piene's Impromptu Caprice (Op. 9), solo harp -- Anne Denholm -- and really spectacular. I was reminded that a harp is basically an upended piano with the case taken off: amazing versatility of sound and virtuoso playing.
There were also some carols. And some mulled wine. All good (except an out-of-tune stringed thing in one of the larger ensembles).

2. Walton - Facade at Kettle's Yard, 3.12.10 (thanks to woolymonkey for encouraging me along)
I have had an uninspiring experience with Walton in the past so was not at all sure about this: but it was fabulous. Woodwind, cello, trumpet, percussion and a very personable narrator (a classicist, I note: he has an ear for rhythm and emphasis that reminds me of classical Greek drama) making Edith Sitwell's poetry -- euphonic and alliterative -- into another strand of the ensemble. ('as much percussion as woodwind,' I have scribbled.) Apparently there are versions of Facade in which the poetry is set to music: here, it was declaimed rather than sung, which made it much easier to appreciate the language and the wit of Sitwell's verses.
Am sure it's all online somewhere but am at a library computer so am limited to a single window. Google it!

Comments

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

I really ought to go see a Walton piece one of these days (though Facade has always struck me as probably the wrong choice). He was supposedly a relative on my mother's side - she recalls being dandled on his knee as a child - but despite that, I've never really pursued his oeuvre.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Oh, how amusing. A quick Google search on my mother's maiden name and 'Walton' brings up a 192.com entry for my cousin Martyn. Well, right town, wife's names at that address match his wife's, and as 'Martyn Peter Walton Bagnall', the second name would be his father's.

Except that this (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dubaiclassicalmusic/message/1547) shows how out of date 192.com can be. Yes, they were performing last week in Dubai, which is where they now live. (He's head of HR for a bank these days.)

(It's very disconcerting being at a church service when Jane is there too - you get the typical rubbish amateur congregation singing away, and then floating above it all, a truly superb mezzo.)

(And sadly, Martyn got all of the musical talent in the family.)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

a harp is basically an upended piano with the case taken off

Hee. Except that a piano is hammered, where a harp is plucked: making it more like a harpsichord, surely?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Oh, and - Facade should absolutely be declaimed. It's what Edith did, and what the piece was written for; more than any of us, she wrote for her own voice. Which Walton understood, and went along.