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PHILIP R BUTTALL - The Herald 's Classical Music Writer & Critic (1)
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PHILIP R BUTTALL has been the Classical Music Writer & Critic for Plymouth's Evening Herald, now re-branded as The Herald, since 1997. He writes a weekly column each Thursday, where he previews the forthcoming classical music events in the city and surrounding area
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The Herald - Thursday June 18, 2009
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Back in 1995, with advice from British concert-pianist, John Lill, the University of Plymouth Sherwell Centre acquired a new Steinway chamber-sized piano, which has proved invaluable ever since. The university has now purchased a new Yamaha concert grand for the Roland Levinsky Building Theatre, and to mark this, another of the UK’s leading pianists, Benjamin Frith, has been invited to join the Ten Tors Orchestra for its inaugural performance on Saturday June 20 at 7.30pm. The programme opens with Holst’s spritely St Paul’s Suite, ends with Haydn’s Symphony No 88 in G, and includes Little Waves of the Harbour (2008), by local composer, Lona Kozik. Ten Tors conductor, Simon Ible, said: ‘I first met Ben in the mid 1980s, when we worked together on several occasions. I particularly remember collaborating on a performance of Beethoven’s piano concertos. Mozart’s D minor concerto was one of Beethoven’s favourites and he wrote a cadenza that still remains the one preferred by pianists to this day. I am certainly looking forward to conducting this great work, and to working with Ben again. This should be a really special occasion, and one not to be missed!’ Tickets (£17 / £15 Friends of Ten Tors & Peninsula Arts / £5 children & students) are available in advance from the Box Office (01752 585050), and at the door.
The Dante Summer Festival might conjure up some exotic Mediterranean location, whereas this now annual event actually has its roots just across the Tamar! Named after the Dante String Quartet, this year’s festival explores the delights of French music, from Breton melodies and the quartets of Ravel and Debussy, to a candlelit cabaret. The festival opens on Wednesday June 24 at the Church of St Mary, Callington at 7.30pm when the Dante Festival Orchestra, conducted by Tim Boulton, joins the Dante Quartet in Concerto on Breton Themes by Kelly College Director of Music, Andrew Wilson, in a programme that also includes quartets by Haydn and Ravel. On Thursday at Trebullet Chapel, near Lezant, at 7.30pm, it’s an open discussion and performance of fugal works by Mendelssohn and Mozart, culminating in Beethoven’s Great Fugue. Friday afternoon is a family day, and open rehearsal of Mendelssohn’s Octet, Saturday includes a Festival Walk and early-evening performance of French chamber music at 6.30pm in Stoke Climsland Church, before moving across the border to Tavistock Parish Church on Sunday June 28 where, at 2.00pm, there’s an opportunity to hear Andrew Wilson talk about Breton inspirations, before the final festival event at 3.00pm when the augmented Dante Quartet performs Haydn’s Quartet Op 33 No 2 (The Joke), Brahms’s Sextet No 1, Mendelssohn’s youthfully ebullient Octet, and Andrew’s Breton Song: Biniou. For booking, full details of venues and further information, please contact Brian Champness at the Box Office (01579 370589) or visit the website (www.dantefestival.org).
West Devon Chorale’s Summer Concert on Saturday June 20 in Plymouth RC Cathedral at 7.30pm is a double celebration, as the choir reaches its tenth birthday and commemorates the work of Purcell, Handel and Haydn, whose anniversaries also fall this year. Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Haydn’s Nelson Mass feature alongside works by Purcell, under conductor, Michael Johnson, with Jonathan Watts (organ). Tickets (£8) are available at the door, or in advance on 01752 776479. For further information, please visit the website (www.westdevonchorale.co.uk).
Meanwhile, Plymouth Philharmonic Choir does its own ‘Italian Job’ on Sunday June 28, when it performs two works by Italian composers usually famed for their operatic, rather than religious output. Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Donizetti’s Requiem combine in what should be an ideal light programme for a summer evening in the Guildhall at 7.30pm. Full details follow next week, but for advance booking please phone 01364 72429 or visit the choir’s brand new website (www.plymouthphilchoir.org).
18/06/09
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