Category: Music

Sarod Legacy: The 7th Generation, Wigmore Hall, 25 July 2014

Mercifully Janie didn’t go off on one of her, “isn’t that basically an Indian theorbo thing” at the sight of a sarod…

…which is a bit odd, really, because I suspect that the sarod is a much closer relative to the theorbo than Janie’s mystery punter outburst about the “basically Chinese theorbo thing” aka the pipa:

William Carter, Theorbist Extraordinaire’s Mystery Punter Outed, 24 September 2010

So how early an instrument is the sarod?

Well, if you accept that it is basically a rubab, very old indeed. And very lute-like.

Amjad Ali Khan believes that the modern form of the instrument was developed by his family in the late 18th or 19th century, seven generations ago. Amjad Ali Khan was our man of the evening (along with his kin) so who are we to argue with that.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall stub for this concert.

Below is a vid of a similar concert recorded a few months later, including Amjad Ali Khan with both sons who played that night in July, but I think a different tabla player. This is a truly lovely vid/recording:

We find this type of music incredibly relaxing…

…and assume it is meant to be relaxing…

…so it was not a bad thing to both nod off at times in a late night (22:00 start) gig at The Wig.

We loved this concert. revived, we also stuck around for a while to see the jazz in the bar: Dave O’Higgins Quartet – click here for listing – post bop, apparently, which was cool.

Music for a While, L’ Arpeggiata, Wigmore Hall, 10 July 2014

I could quickly and easily run out of adjectives to describe this concert…it was that good.

Our reluctance to go to Thursday evening concerts at that time (we were both still working full pelt) was mitigated by the promise of baroque music with a jazzy feel.

Also, we were both keen to see Philippe Jaroussky; he had impressed us so much on previous sightings/hearings.

Here is a link to the concert programme for the night.

It was mostly Purcell music from L’Arpeggiata’s then latest album Music For A While.

We ran into Eric Rhode that night, who (like some of the critics,, it turned out) wasn’t so keen on Music For A While. But Eric told us that L’Arpeggiata’s album Los Pajaros Perdidos was exceptional, so I procured both albums…

…and was so pleased with them that I ended up pretty much buying L’Arpeggiata’s back catalogue, all of which sounds delightful and we still listen to those albums a lot – especially Los Pajaros Perdidos, which, unlike the album Music For A While, is all about Philippe Jaroussky, who was on top form for that album.

Here is a short teaser vid which gives you a reasonable idea of the Music For A While album:

As for that concert in July 2014, it truly was a special evening at the Wigmore Hall for me and Janie.

No Wu Man No Cry, The Journey Of The Chinese Pipa, Wigmore Lates, 6 June 2014

OK, the concert wasn’t really entitled No Wu Man No Cry, perhaps it should have been.

Wu Man is a fine exponent of the pipa…

…aka “that Chinese theorbo thing” to Janie, as she learnt to describe it after accosting a William Carter the theorbist at The Wig a few years earlier:

William Carter, Theorbist Extraordinaire’s Mystery Punter Outed, 24 September 2010

This concert was a fascinating mixture of Chinese early music and modern pieces in a traditional style.

It was one of those Wigmore late jobs, so we struggled to find the energy to go to the hall and then had a terrific time.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resource on that Wu Man concert.

Below is a super vid which shows Wu Man’s virtuosity playing a piece much like some of those we heard that evening:

We retired to the bar afterwards and enjoyed the Tom Green Septet…described here through this link.

Another very pleasurable late evening of music at The Wig.

The Golden Age Of French Sacred Music, Le Concert Spirituel, Wigmore Hall, 30 May 2014

Another weekend, another early music concert that May. Perhaps I got over-excited with the booking forms or perhaps I had indeed spotted a glut of really superb visiting acts doing interesting concerts.

This was another good’un, that’s for sure.

Friday night, so no doubt the golden era sacred music will have induced each of us at some stage to nod off a little…but not a lot.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resource for this concert, which helpfully shows you the programme they played. Trust me, it was sacred music and not, as advertised, scared music.

I seem to recall Janie finding Hervé Niquet a bit showy in style – Janie can be very unforgiving on that point, but we both really enjoyed the gig.

Below is a vid of Le Concert Spirituel singing something else, somewhere else, but it is a lovely short piece and you’ll soon get the idea:

Lovely sound.

Two Fabulous Baroque Concerts And A Dinner At St John’s Smith Square, 23 May 2014

Both of these concerts, part of the Lufthansa Festival Of Baroque Music that year, looked superb.

For reasons of my own (work related) I had tried the more formal dining option at SJSS a couple of times by then and thought Janie would enjoy such a meal too. Turned out (as I suspected) the restaurant was all geared up for people who wanted to see the two concerts and dine in-between.

Here’s the splurge on first concert;

We hadn’t seen La Risonanza before, although we had, I think, seen Fabio Bonizzoni – at least I have his wonderful recording of the last Domenico Scarlatti sonatas.

It was a good concert, although I recall we liked the sonatas more than the duets. Not a comment on the skills of the singers, they were excellent, but the style of those baroque duets don’t tend to please us, we discovered.

We both enjoyed our dinner; very attentively and well fed we were. In many ways the SJSS dining-crypt has more atmosphere than the SJSS concert hall itself, which can seem rather large and cold at times.

But the highlight of the evening was this last chance to see The Hilliard Ensemble perform Morimur live. I had owned and enjoyed the magnificent recording of Morimur for some years by then and was delighted to have a chance to see that composite work performed live:

William Cole, on the Interlude blog, describes the Morimur concert that evening thus:

…the Hilliard Ensemble with violinist Kati Debretzeni gave quite simply one of the most extraordinary concerts I have ever attended.

Here is a link to the whole William Cole review.

Talk about going out on a high. By that December, the Hilliard Ensemble was done saying its goodbyes to the world and that (un-Sinatra-like) was that.

Of course it is still possible to get the recording of Morimur – click here for a link to general resources on it or the image below for one specific link – I would highly commend the recording.

We still listen to Morimur quite a lot – its haunting quality is just so moving. The alternating of chorale and violin music just works..at least it does for us.

As for that Baroque evening at SJSS – very memorable indeed.

Treasures Of The Renaissance – Masterpieces From The Golden Age Of Choral Music, Stile Antico, 11 May 2014

Just gorgeous, this concert was.

Here is a link to the helpful Wigmore Hall calendar note that tells you exactly what we saw.

This was Renaissance choral music at its best.

Barry Millington in the Evening Standard gave the gig this rave review – click here.

Below is a vid of Stile Antico, singing Ego flos campi by Jacobus Clemens non papa, which was the second piece they sang to us and which gives a very good sense of their glorious sound:

Coincidentally, the above recording was made at the Old Royal Naval College which I shall be visiting in a few day’s time (as I write in January 2018), although not for music purposes.

For those who are not blessed with Latin scholarship, “Ego flos campi” means, “I maintain my oral hygiene when I go camping”…

…although those words are occasionally mistranslated by so-called experts as, “I am the flower of the field”.

Anyway, enough of scholarship. Janie and I had enjoyed an early music oriented weekend from start (Joanna MacGregor tinkling the Goldberg on the Friday) to finish – we had no complaints about that.

Play that vid again, go on…gorgeous it is.

Goldberg Variations, Joanna MacGregor, Followed By Jazz, Wigmore Lates, 9 May 2014

We rather like these Wigmore Lates concerts, although we do sometimes find it hard to drag ourselves from the comfort of my lovingly prepared dinner at the flat to the concert hall, albeit a mere couple of miles up the road.

We’d been very keen on the idea of this one when we booked it, but I do recall that fatigue factor coming into play as we set off for the Wigmore Hall.

But by gosh this one was worth it.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall diary page for this concert.

We’d enjoyed Joanna MacGregor playing interesting fusion music some years earlier, at the Roundhouse – click here or below… 

Joanna MacGregor and Britten Sinfonia, Reverb: Roundhouse, 23 January 2010

…but had never seen her perform solo before.

Her interpretation of the Goldberg Variations was a fine one. Not overly flash or unusual; perhaps the odd flourish that nodded to her breadth of influences. Very relaxing.

Did either Janie or I nod off during the performance, I hear you ask? That is between us and our consciences, but in any case, with the Goldberg, it almost feels compulsory to do so, at least for a short while, in honour of the great composer’s original purpose.

We certainly didn’t nod off in the bar afterwards where we heard the Julian Bliss Quintet play some swinging jazz. We both like that style, as does Joanna MacGregor, it seems, as she joined a fairly sizeable late night swing contingent in the bar for quite a while.

I think Janie and I slipped away just before midnight – we normally do – don’t want anyone to see our carriage turning into a pumpkin or anything like that.

A very enjoyable late evening at the Wig.

Aspects Of Darkness And Light, Joshua Redman And Friends, Wigmore Hall, 24 April 2014

We were excited about Joshua Redman taking up residency at the Wigmore hall and thought this concert might be right up our street.

In truth, I don’t think the Patrick Zimmerli music on show that night was quite to our taste.

It was an interesting idea blending a string quartet with a jazz trio, but it didn’t quite work for us with this music.

We liked bits of it and were glad we’d been to the concert.

Here is a link to the Wigmore hall stub for this concert.

Passiontide, Academia Musica Choir, St John’s Smith Square, 19 April 2014

Janie is not quite as keen on St John’s Smith Square as she is on the Wigmore Hall. It’s not quite the same sort of warm, intimate space.

But whenever we go there she realises that she likes the bar in the crypt and that we often hear music that sounds great in a church, which is of course exactly what this venue used to be.

Easter weekend and some baroque music suited to that time of year:

Very high quality singing for a semi-professional choir.

It all sounded beautiful.

Emmanuel Pahud, Christian Rivet, Wigmore Hall, 22 December 2013

Something a little different just before Christmas that year. A real mixture of musical styles, played on flute and guitar.

Click here for a link to the Wigmore Hall page for this concert.

It wasn’t quite the programme we had subscribed for – the programme was changed between booking and the night – but I cannot for the life of me remember what they were originally proposing to do – some slightly different mixture of wonders I suspect.

Below is the only video footage I could find of the two of them playing together – a delightful little Bach piece – it wasn’t on the programme our night:

Below is Pahud playing a favourite Telemann concerto of mine – so why not embed it here?

Below is a sound YouTube of the two of them playing one of the charming  Bartok Romanian Folk Dances which was on the programme we heard:

I’m not usually wild about Bartok, but this flute and guitar combo makes the Romanian dances sound lovely.