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Reviews from 30/09/06 to 31/08/06
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Commanding show from young musicians
South West Camerata, Bexley Youth Choir and Dartington Brass Consort
Great Hall, Dartington
If you ever needed proof that not all of today’s youngsters are out there roaming around in gangs, then the superb setting of Dartington’s Great Hall afforded it in abundance.
Almost a hundred young performers combined for a superb musical offering before a packed audience. A Fanfare by Dartington Brass Consort’s Director, Catherine Carter-Tyler, opened the proceedings, followed by a wonderfully mixed offering from the Bexley Youth Choir, directed by John Mackenzie. From Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to Mozart’s Ave Verum, these exceptionally well-drilled singers sang with such command and maturity, as to put most adult choirs to shame.
Sam Massey and Esther Robinson were the soloists in Vivaldi’s Double Trumpet Concerto. There were occasional uneasy moments, but the performance captured the music’s essential spirit. South West Camerata, under the inspired leadership of Fiona McLean, brought the first half to a real foot-tapping close, with the first performance of my Princess Grainne’s Air & Jig, in an arrangement for strings.
There were many highlights in the second half, from a rip-roaring account of There is Nothin’ Like a Dame, a pulsating rendition of Rhythm of Life, to an assured performance of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with soloists, Joe O’Keefe and Ellis Evans. Handel’s Zadok the Priest finished off the evening with a clear prophesy that we shall certainly be hearing again from all these talented and enthusiastic young people!
PHILIP R BUTTALL
31/08/06
Accomplished start to city’s international...
Ten Tors Orchestra & Peninsula Arts Chorale
St Andrew’s Church
[Full Headline: Accomplished start to city’s international festival of music]
Plymouth International Festival 2006 was launched by an evening of choral and instrumental music featuring the Ten Tors Orchestra and Peninsula Arts Chorale, conducted by Simon Ible.
If the take-off didn’t seem quite jet-propelled, it was an encouraging start to the varied week of music-making ahead. There were certainly fireworks at the start, when the orchestra, under Malcolm Latchem’s disciplined leadership, embarked on Handel’s well-known Music for the Royal Fireworks. The playing was crisp at all times, with taut articulation from the strings, and particularly effective contributions from trumpets and oboes. Soprano, Charlotte Kinder, proved a most able soloist in Mozart’s motet, Exsultate Jubilate, with powerful delivery and overall effective control in the coloratura passages.
The Magnificat by CPE Bach, the third son of his better-known father, is a less-familiar and challenging work. The forty-strong singers of the Peninsula Arts Chorale were in fine voice throughout, with particular strength from the soprano section. Whilst the tenors and basses sang their hearts out too, at times they were often swallowed up in the ensemble, and simply needed more in numbers.
Soloist, Katherine Allen (mezzo-soprano), demonstrated the most well-rounded and expressive vocal quality, as did baritone, Wyn Pencarreg, in his one aria. Tenor, Peter Wilman, whilst evidencing a pleasing sonority in the voice, appeared not so able to negotiate the florid lines frequently encountered in the part.
PHILIP R BUTTALL
16/09/06
Magic of music crosses the cultural boundaries
Chorale Peuple et Chansons & Spirit Talk Mbira
Davy Main Hall
The second event in the Plymouth International Festival 2006 so effectively summed up the whole rationale of this week-long series of events.
First and foremost it’s a celebration of the City of Plymouth, so the University of Plymouth’s Davy Main Hall was a particularly apt venue, given the contribution made by the university and its Peninsula Arts programme to the city’s cultural renaissance.
Then there were the two groups taking part. Chorale Peuple et Chansons is a Breton choir from Plymouth’s twin city of Brest, whilst Chartwell Dutiro and his Spirit Talk Mbira is a band formed by musicians from Europe and Zimbabwe, an altogether truly international affair.
But it was in a real sense of festival that this particular event proved so very enjoyable, whether judged as a concert or simply as a gig.
The forty-strong voices of Chorale Peuple, directed by Nadine Mathieu-Misko, with Fabrice Duhamel (piano) presented a wonderfully varied programme of music, in both French and English, to the delight of the packed audience. Spirit Talk Mbira very soon had a good number spontaneously dancing to the hypnotic strains of their music and the highly personable, laid-back delivery of mbira-specialist, Chartwell Dutiro. The final encore saw both choir and instrumentalists combine for an impromptu number, confirming that music is still one of the best vehicles for the mutual appreciation of such diverse cultures.
PHILIP R BUTTALL
17/09/06
Pedestrian piano only disappointment
Philharmonia Orchestra with Vesselin Stanev (piano)
Pavilions
It’s been a while since one of the country’s top orchestras has appeared in the city, and they don’t come any better than the Philharmonia!
It was, however, a testament to the players rather than to the conductor, that they were able to open their account with such a rip-roaring reading of Glinka’s bustling Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture. Alexander Lazarev had barely arrived on the rostrum before suddenly launching into the piece, clearly leaving some of the players behind, and occasioning a few scrappy moments in the opening bars.
Bulgarian pianist, Vesselin Stanev, joined the orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, producing a performance which was certainly workmanlike, but which didn’t get the adrenaline flowing. Here the acoustics obviously didn’t help, as the orchestra needed constantly to monitor its dynamics, or risk overpowering the soloist, and which frequently watered down the climaxes.
But, if there was anything which confirmed the world status of the Philharmonia, it was the absolutely stunning performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. With the piano out of the way, the players really let rip, even though there were some wonderfully hushed moments from the strings. Woodwind solos were particularly impressive, as was the sheer quality of the brass. To hear playing of this calibre again strengthens the case for more regular visits from other similar ensembles, though ultimately audience take-up could have the final word.
PHILIP R BUTTALL
20/09/06
Technical tour de force with deadpan delivery
Nikolai Demidenko (piano)
Sherwell Centre
(Nikolai lets the music do talking)*
There is often a special magic and empathy when a performer plays a work by one of his compatriots, and nowhere was this more evident than in a truly outstanding performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
Pianist, Nikolai Demidenko, is blessed with a phenomenal technique, which made light work of the immense difficulties in a work which is more usually encountered in an orchestral version, than the piano original. However, such was the vivid characterisation in sound of each picture, that its counterpart could be so easily visualised, as if being simultaneously projected onto the wall behind.
Opening with Mozart’s Praeludium & Fugue in C, Nikolai Demidenko’s introspective approach was always to the fore, and whilst perhaps there were occasions when the interpretation appeared more romantically charged than purely classical in spirit, the dynamics were always appropriately judged, to suggest an instrument of more modest proportions, which then significantly was made to grow in size to accommodate Mussorgsky’s virtuosic war-horse.
Nikolai Demidenko is not a demonstrative performer. Indeed the facial expression hardly ever changes, or seems to reflect the mood of the music played. But in terms of pure piano playing alone, this stunning recital should be remembered for a long time to come. And with three generous encores, it seemed that Nikolai was ultimately enjoying himself too, even if his rather inscrutable demeanour tended to belie this!
* Headline for 2nd run
PHILIP R BUTTALL
21/09/06
Intimate evening of jazz with leading soprano
An Evening with Maria Ewing
Sherwell Centre
American soprano, Maria Ewing, is recognised as one of the world’s leading opera singers, but she succeeded in transporting her packed audience to the intimate surroundings of Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in a venue which, only a few hours before, might have echoed to the words of a university lecturer!
This wonderfully atmospheric evening introduced us to the real Maria Ewing. There were no arias, and the closest we ever got to opera was a number from Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess. It was simply wall-to-wall ballads, some up-tempo numbers, and many old jazz standards from such masters as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael and, more recently, Barbra Streisand and Michel Legrand.
Maria Ewing’s exceedingly laid-back delivery, which so effectively captivated her listeners
with the minimum of gesture, created the most ideal ambience from the very moment she made her eminently understated entrance. She also maintained the essential balance between music and anecdote, which can otherwise so easily result in audience frustration, when they have come to hear a singer sing.
The last word, however, must go to the quite superb accompaniment from British pianist, Nick Dawson. Nick was a last-minute replacement, but the brilliant job he still did on the night merely emphasized that here were two artists working together as if they were a lifelong partnership – clearly the mark of pure professionalism and class at its very highest level.
PHILIP R BUTTALL
22/09/06
Colliery brass band’s rich seam of talent
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Pavilions
Brass Bands have changed dramatically over the years. Whilst many still reflect their origins, the last coal mined in Grimethorpe Colliery was back in 1992, and their proudly Yorkshire-based band now includes two players from Plymouth and Tavistock respectively!
Not only have the bands developed, but even more so the music they currently perform, to maintain the widest appeal. For my money they still sound at their very best when playing pieces in their original scoring like Rimmer’s Cross of Honour march which opened the Grimethorpe Band’s programme, rather than trying to compete with symphonic wind band repertoire, where the arranger’s skill is probably as much on display as that of the instrumentalists themselves.
Traditionally, bands have also turned to orchestral music for further material, and often the resulting transcriptions are equally successful. Conductor, Chris Houlding, crafted a quite amazing account of the finale from Rossini’s William Tell Overture, taken at a terrific pace, with not a single note out of place.
Solos by Roger Webster (cornet), Ian Shires (flugel horn), Michael Dodd’s virtuosic account of Mallett’s Travelling Along on euphonium, and a breathtaking performance of Ray Woodfield’s arrangement of Helter Skelter from xylophonist, Gavin Pritchard, completed a truly exhilarating evening, hugely enjoyed by the large audience, and which certainly confirmed the Grimethorpe’s top-UK-band billing – at least until next month’s National Brass Band Championship in London!
PHILIP R BUTTALL
23/09/06
Ten Tors triumphant at city music festival
Ten Tors Orchestra Festival Gala Concert
Pavilions
It was our own Ten Tors Orchestra, expertly led by Malcolm Latchem, which emerged triumphant at the closing concert of the 2006 Plymouth International Festival. The orchestra’s forty-three players, under conductor, Simon Ible, produced some quite superlative performances of music by Rossini, Mussorgsky, Bizet and Elgar.
American mezzo-soprano, Maria Ewing, delivered suitably sultry renditions of the Habanera from Carmen, and Showboat’s Fish gotta swim, capturing the mood precisely. Though billed as a baritone, New Zealand-born Jonathan Lemalu is decidedly more bass-baritone, and whilst the tone was always rich, notes at the top of the register occasionally showed some strain.
Pianist, Nikolai Demidenko, can certainly commit a full recital to memory, and, whilst there is no law that concerto soloists, particularly pianists, play without music, it seemed odd that he apparently needed the score in Mozart’s C major Piano Concerto No 21. Unfortunately, the performance said it all – there were slips, and an uncomfortable few moments at the end of the first movement exposition, all of which detracted from his final cadenza, a strange sort of birthday potpourri of Mozart tunes. The orchestra otherwise accompanied superbly, getting the balance absolutely right.
If there were any lessons to be learnt, it was that top international artists don’t significantly increase audience numbers, and that the gap between the Ten Tors Orchestra and leading national ensembles is increasingly becoming merely a question of size.
PHILIP R BUTTALL
24/09/06
Programme timing spoiled concert
Peter Fisher (violin) with Peter Hewitt (piano)
City Museum & Art Gallery
The opening recital of the 14th Series at the City Museum got off to a fine start, and appropriately too with a delightfully light two-movement sonata by this year’s birthday boy, Mozart.
Despite the fact that violinist, Peter Fisher, and pianist, Peter Hewitt, were looking in opposite directions throughout, there was excellent balance and a taut ensemble between the two instruments.
Prokofiev’s Sonata No 2 is written in the composer’s neo-classical vein, and can’t really be described as hard going for the listener. But, in terms of an hour-long lunchtime recital, it was perhaps not the most ideal choice, and, with four movements to boot, certainly not the shortest. The performance from both players, especially the taxing piano part, was excellent, but it might have been better digested later in the day.
Peter Fisher finely depicted the sultry nature of the Havanaise by Saint-Saëns, and despatched Sarasate’s Zapateado with a degree of panache. It was a pity, though, that some of the audience had to leave, or risk a parking fine, so programme timing is crucial, as is the need to be able to start playing on time.
A generous encore delighted those who could stay, but if only Peter Hewitt could appear to enjoy his playing and its well-deserved applause as much as Peter Fisher, it would really make this talented duo so much better to watch.
PHILIP R BUTTALL
28/09/06
An entertaining start to concert season
Chamber Ensemble of London
Sherwell Centre
Plymouth Chamber Music’s 2006/7 series got off to an encouraging start when the eleven-strong Chamber Ensemble of London presented a varied programme of music for strings.
Beginning with Handel’s Concerto Grosso in A, the players, directed by Peter Fisher, quickly settled to give a vigorous and enthusiastic performance. Tartini’s D minor Violin Concerto provided an excellent stage for solo display, which Peter Fisher despatched with real aplomb, whilst still maintaining a disciplined ensemble throughout.
Grieg’s Holberg Suite is far more complex, rhythmically and texturally, than the opening two Baroque works. It can, of course, be played without a conductor, but unless every player is totally familiar with the score, and there is a complete empathy, borne out of constantly working together, there can be minor glitches when directed from the violin. However, these were essentially few and far between, and certainly did not detract from the resulting well-rounded performance.
Local composer, Clive Jenkins’s bitter-sweet Pastorale and Allegro was followed by Suk’s sumptuous and richly-scored Serenade for Strings, which received a warmly romantic reading, finely capturing the youthful spirit of the eighteen-year-old Czech, soon to become Dvorak’s son-in-law.
If the programme wasn’t exactly chamber music in the strictest sense, it did prove an enjoyably entertaining evening, and, for the true aficionado, there is always more than enough of the real thing to be had over the coming months!
PHILIP R BUTTALL
30/09/06
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