Category: Music

Il Siglo D’Oro, The Cardinall’s Musick, Wigmore Hall, 12 July 2010

Wigmore Hall on-line rubric doesn’t go back quite this far, but I have lifted the following text, which is also in the programme, from www.concert-diary.com – click here:

Il siglo d’oro – the Golden Age – was the name that Spaniards gave to their great flowering of music in the 16th century. Spain brought forth some of the finest writers of the age and the Virgin Mary was a popular subject with all of them. Francisco Guerrero was known as el cantor de Maria. Much of his highly characterful music was dedicated to the Virgin, from well-crafted four-part pieces to the more splendid double-choir numbers.

This fascinating exploration of music from 16th-century Spain sets Guerrero alongside his contemporaries and colleagues Morales, Esquivel, Vivanco, Alonso Lobo and the brightest star of all, Tomas Luis da Victoria.

The idea of this concert sounded great to me but not so great to Janie (or at least not for a Monday night in those days), so I made a rare trip to the Wig on my own that Monday night.

I was glad I did. This was a lovely concert.

Here is the programme:

The Cardinall’s Musick have preserved a review of the concert – click here.

 

Pergolesi And Vivaldi, Florilegium, Wigmore Hall, 23 May 2010

A simply delightful concert at the Wigmore Hall. Mostly Pergolesi with a bit of Vivaldi thrown in for good measure.

Janie is especially partial to the Pergolesi Stabat Mater. His less well-known Salve Regina and the instrumental pieces were beautiful. In fact the whole concert was utter tonic for our ears.

Florilegium always look as though they enjoy playing together…for all we know they might be masters of deception on stage and like a nest of vipers in the green room…but we suspect that they are as they seem – a serene, coherent unit.

They were promoting their Pergolesi CD at that time and nearly coaxed me into buying yet another disc, but I do already have a couple of complete Pergolesi Stabat Mater recordings.

Here is a very interesting promotional sample from YouTube, with some of the performers explaining the music:

Oh what the heck, that Pergolesi album of theirs is only £8 as an MP3 download and those other Pergolesi pieces were stunningly beautiful. As I write in November 2017, down it all comes like magic through the ether to my computer!

Basquiat Strings & Olivia Chaney, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, 22 May 2010

We really liked this concert.

We didn’t know either of the acts before we booked; it just sounded interesting and was.

The Basquiat Strings is a string jazz ensemble, basically. Olivia Chaney is a very talented folk singer, who went very well with the strings.

Here is a link to the only write up of the gig I could find.

I have scraped that review to Ogblog just in case – here.

We were really impressed with Olivia Chaney, who confessed to being relatively inexperienced as a concert performer in 2010. I’m glad, writing in 2017, that it seems to be going well for her at this stage – click here.

Samba Drumming – Z/Yen Team Event, St Helen’s Place, 11 May 2010

Z/Yen team events on the whole tended to be sports-oriented affairs. Cricket, tennis, horse racing…sometimes watching, sometimes playing, sometimes both.

Becky Dawson, our resident musician-cum-administrator, suggested that something musical as an activity event would make a welcome change. We agreed, suggesting that if she organised it, we’d do it.

So, presumably through her musical connections, Becky found us the Inspire Works people – click here for their website – and suggested Samba Drumming as something that would be fun and manageable for us.

Some seemed to take to the big drums…
…better than others!

There was a Now & Z/Yen Blog piece about it at the time – click here for that piece on the Z/Yen site…

…or here for a scrape of the piece in case the Z/Yen site piece moves.

I recall personally getting on better with the shakers than the big drums

I also recall that everyone had a really good time, both while drumming and with the celebratory drinks that followed.

There are quite a few more pictures, all thanks to Monique Gore if I recall correctly, which are available through the Flickr album link below:

Samba Drumming 001

 

Handel’s 1710: Venice – Hanover – London, London Handel Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, 28 March 2010

A lovely Sunday evening concert at The Wigmore Hall.

Handel was the focus but it included works by some lesser-known characters from that late Baroque period: Agostino Steffani, Francesco Venturini and Nicola Haym.

No, me neither, hence links provided.

The concert was part of that year’s London Handel Festival. I have saved the brochure from the web – here.

Anyway, the music was lovely and as always we found an evening of music at The Wig a most relaxing way to round off a weekend.

Roots, Cantor Norman Cohen Falah & Kerensya, V&A, 21 March 2010

This was an afternoon concert at the V&A. I’m not sure how we got on to this one. Daisy wasn’t yet a member of the V&A – perhaps one of her clients suggested it.

The Sephardic music was very sweet and interesting. A relatively small room/small audience at the V&A, I recall.

We very much enjoyed the experience.

The programme follows:

 

Los Van Van, The Roundhouse, 20 March 2010

Neither Janie nor I remember very much about this concert, other than attending it.

I can see some e-mail correspondence with The Roundhouse, as I had booked a package to include VIP bar (whatever that might have meant), but they decided not to have a VIP bar that night so refunded some of my money.

Quite right – the idea of a VIP bar is not very Castro-Cuban, is it?

We heard recordings of and bought some Los Van Van music while we were on holiday in Cuba in 2007 (which I shall Ogblog in the fullness of time).

Click above for Amazon link – other albums and suppliers are available 

I can’t really recall why, but the concert at The Roundhouse didn’t quite send us. I think we expected something a bit livelier and Janie had such wonderful memories of dancing at Casa de la Trova etc. when in Cuba…

…of course it wasn’t going to feel like that…

…although this write up from 2009 and enticing video promised plenty – click here.

(If the above link doesn’t work, the text at least is scraped to here).

So I’m not entirely sure why this wasn’t more memorable for us…but it wasn’t. Just as well there is a vid from the previous year’s concert, then.

L’Invitation Au Voyage – Exploring The Music Of France And Spain, Nash Ensemble & Juan Martín, Wigmore Hall, 6 March 2010

I think this might have been the first time we saw Juan Martín team up with The Nash Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall; something they do irregularly but resolutely.

Not all the sort of music we normally seek out – Janie prefers earlier stuff, but she is partial to a bit of flamenco guitar and Juan Martín sure provides that.

I am especially partial to a bit of De Falla and there was plenty of that on show.

This is a few months ahead of the Wigmore Hall’s on-line archive resource starting, but I have found an on-line review – Jim Pritchard for musicweb-international.com – click here- that sums up the concert very well.

Goodness knows what we ate afterwards. My guess – shawarmas.

Julia Fischer Playing Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, Wigmore Hall, 13 & 14 February 2010

Janie and I spent two consecutive evenings at The Wig, where we enjoyed the enchanting sound of Julia Fischer playing:

  • Bach’s three violin sonatas on the Saturday;
  • Bach’s three violin partitas on the Sunday.

The music is, of course, simply divine. I’m no expert, but Julia’s interpretation is full of texture and flavour to my ears.

No mucking about, I bought the CD set there and then – I still listen to them quite often.

The concerts had this superb review in the Guardian – deservedly so.

Truly memorable evenings and a very special way to spend Valentine’s Night too.

The Beggar’s Opera: Reborn, Reverb: Roundhouse, 25 January 2010

This was the second Reverb: Roundhouse concert we went to over a long weekend in January – we took that Monday off work.

This one didn’t wow us quite as much as the Joanna MacGregor one on the Saturday, but still we really enjoyed it.

In many ways this one was more star-studded, with Charles Hazlewood, Adrian Utley from Portishead, Charlie Jones from Goldfrapp and both of the Unthank sisters to thank.

It was an interesting idea to set The Beggar’s Opera with folk tunes and baroque music from Purcell and Handel. It succeeded in its own way, but perhaps, to my mind, Brecht/Weill have taken that work as far as it can go down the fusion line.

We were thirsty for more of this sort of thing at the Roundhouse, but have not since (writing in 2017) seen quite such inspired-looking programmes at that venue. Which is a shame, as we really like the place.

Still, this evening rounded off a long weekend well, at the Roundhouse