Pauline, The Duchess of Castlebar, was partial to a youth orchestra concert at the Proms. We always used to book at least one of those for her per season.
This one also had a fair smattering of her favourite type of English composers (Elgar, Walton) plus some family favourites. The royal theme to the first half of the concert was because that very day was The Queen Mother’s 100th birthday.
Unknown – National Anthem (arr. William Walton)
William Walton – Coronation March ‘Crown Imperial’
George Frideric Handel – Music for the Royal Fireworks
Edward Elgar – Overture ‘Cockaigne (In London Town)’
Article from 7 Aug 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)
After the concert, we went to a new restaurant in Ealing named Parade, which Janie and I had wanted to try. I don’t think Pauline was as keen on this idea – I have a scribbled note in my diary “Pauline will try”. I think she preferred familiar food and guaranteed fawning waiters by that stage of her life.
To mark the 250th anniversary of Bach’s demise, the Wigmore Hall treated us to a concert entirely comprising his music:
Johann Sebastian Bach – Contrapuncti Nos 1-5 from The Art of Fugue BWV 1080
Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit BWV 106
Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata: Lass, furston, lass noch einen Strahl “Trauerode” BWV 198
Johann Sebastian Bach – Contrapunctus No 18 from The Art of Fugue
I don’t think the Purcell Quartet ever recorded The Art of Fugue. It does sound great in the string quartet format – here’s the Emerson Quartet’s recording:
The Purcell Quartet did record Bach trio sonatas around that time – the recording sounds great to my ears. I’ll be listening to all of these later – here’s a sample:
I cannot find Fretwork recordings of the pieces we heard that night, but this Netherlands Bach Society recording of “Trauerode” is rather lovely – albeit a larger orchestra than we heard at The Wig:
Here’s a recording of Nancy Argenta singing an aria from a different Bach cantata. It’s a rather yummy sound:
This concert will have been just the ticket for us after a busy week. No doubt one or both of us nodded off during some stage of the proceedings…in a good way.
This one has Pauline, Duchess of Castlebar’s fingerprints all over it. Not in terms of who paid for the evening, obviously, but in terms of who chose that concert.
A Wednesday evening (virtually guaranteeing a rush job for me and Janie after work), a large concert hall, big sound music…
…Janie does not much go for Beethoven orchestral works nor Mahler on a large scale. Mahler’s 6th would not be my first choice of Mahler symphony. I’m not sure it would even be my 6th choice.
Tim Ashley in The Guardian rated this concert “unmissable”. I always think that a bit harsh on anyone who wasn’t there at a concert, as they are by definition one-offs so anyone who wasn’t there missed it:
Article from 27 Jul 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England)
So, it was no doubt a seriously good concert, and in those days I still enjoyed the opportunity to hear large orchestral works…
…even if The Duchess was part of the price, both additional ticket-wise, plus the costly sense of nervous tension before and after the concert.
“Did the evening continue on to dinner with The Duchess, even after such a long concert?” I hear sympathetic readers cry, while sensing a wave of pity for me and Janie.
Yup, if Janie’s bookings diary is to be believed. Atlantis in Pitshanger Lane – one of the few restaurants in Ealing that would take such a late booking – probably still would 25 years later:
No doubt The Duchess insisted on one more cigarette, one or two more anecdotes hurled in the direction of the tolerant…some might say sycophantic…waiting staff, and zero appreciation that Janie and I both had really early starts the next day.
At sparrow-fart the next morning, Janie headed off to Ham to visit patients, while I headed off crack of dawn to Bristol to visit a Children’s Society site. It was “just what we did” back then – we wouldn’t dream of packing it in like that 25 years later.
Janie really was on a Baroque kick at that time – we even booked a Monday evening concert on a working day. Janie had cunningly arranged to see Carita, our dental hygienist, around the corner in Cavendish Square, but then ended up having to move that appointment. Once again, in the end, I recall that Janie hot-footed it (if you can hot-foot in a car) to the Wig, after making a late client visit.
Anyway, this concert focussed more on CPE than JS Bach, and was mostly an opportunity for Rachel Brown to show off her flute skills, which she did with aplomb.
We heard:
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Flute Concerto in G Wq 169
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – String Symphony in C Wq 182/3
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Flute Concerto in D minor Wq22
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – String Symphony in G Wq 182/1
Johann Sebastian Bach – Sinfonia from Cantata “Non sa che sia dolore” BWV 209
Janie (Daisy) and I weren’t there for the tense ending of that match either. But we were nearby – there in spirit if not in body.
We had been eagerly following the match all day.
But that day was also the birthday of Daisy’s mother, The Duchess of Castlebar. I had bought tickets for the three of us to see a Bach concert at the Wigmore Hall for that evening.
Janie had quite recently acquired a taste for chamber concert halls and baroque music, perhaps a year or two earlier. The Duchess tended to prefer large scale concerts of the Proms variety; we mostly booked those for her. But the Proms don’t get going until a bit later in the summer and it was the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death that year. So Bach at The Wig it was to be.
Anyway, that afternoon the Lord’s Test Match was beautifully poised and/but for reasons I cannot recall – had there been a lot of overnight rain? – the day’s play had been delayed and was playing out until quite late.
The Duchess is an avid follower of the cricket as well as a music aficionado. We called her to let her know that we were on the way to collect her. We could all listen to the ending of the cricket match together on the car radio on our way to The Wig.
As we drove to the Duchess’s residence, England wickets fell and the match seemed to be drifting in The West Indies direction. Daisy and I anticipated a dark mood and we were not disappointed.
Thrown it away, they’ve thrown it away…
…said The Duchess. We set off for Marylebone (the southern end thereof).
The Duchess explained to us, as she had several times before, that Denis (Compton), Ted (Dexter), Colin (Cowdrey) Ken (Barrington), Geoffrey (Boycott) and players of that ilk – whom she had met together with her late husband in the good old days- would not have thrown it away like this.
We arrived at The Wigmore Hall. England hadn’t lost a wicket for a while. Was it possible that they could snatch victory from the very jaws of defeat?
Daisy parked up – it was a warm sunny evening so we sat in the car with the roof open and the car radio on, listening to the denouement of the cricket match.
The Duchess Of Castlebar
Try to imagine the scene, dear reader, as it must have looked to passing tourists who understand little or nothing about cricket. A distinguished-looking septuagenarian with her family sitting in a car leaping around in their seats, oohing and aahing every 45 seconds or so as the commentator spoke.
Then, those same seemingly dignified folk whooping with joy for a while, before sealing up the car and entering the Wigmore Hall. Tourists: meet the English.
Basically it was an organ recital of JS Bach works by Jennifer Bate. When you click that preceding link you get some eye candy as well as the organist in question, as Jennifer Bate shares her name with a subsequent Miss England and sporting WAG.
Click the pic to read about the organist Jennifer Bate
It was a fine concert of mostly well-known Bach organ works. An example of one of the pieces (Bach after Vivaldi as it happens) can be seen and heard below.
To be precise, extracted from my log, we heard:
Johann Sebastian Bach – Chorale Partita BWV 767
Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude and Fugue in D Minor BWV 539
Johann Sebastian Bach – Sonata No 4 in E Minor BWV 539
Johann Sebastian Bach – Chorale Prelude BWV 740
Johann Sebastian Bach & Johann Ernst – Concerto No 4 in C BWV 595
Johann Sebastian Bach & Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto No 2 in A minor BWV 593
Johann Sebastian Bach – Pastorale in F BWV 590
Johann Sebastian Bach – Chorale Prelude BWV 645
Johann Sebastian Bach – Fugue in G BWV 577
A sad coda to this Ogblog piece was the discovery that Jennifer Bate died in March 2020, just a few weeks before I wrote this piece.
Here’s another video of her playing one of the pieces we heard that night; Concerto in C BWV 595 (Ernst arr. Bach).
Below is the sort-of programme handed out on the night – it wouldn’t be an organ recital without an organ appeal, now would it?
We must have really fancied this one, as we don’t (and didn’t) much go to the Wigmore Hall for this type of concert midweek. Our work diaries were so full back then.
Janie was on a bit of a countertenor kick back then; that would have clinched it.
Anyway, what an interesting concert:
Johann Rosenmuller – Ascendit Christus in Altum
Giovanni Legrenzi – O Mirandum Mysterium
Giovanni Legrenzi – Sonata in G major ‘La Pezzoli’
Giovanni Antonio Rigatti – Nunc Dimittis
Giovanni Antonio Rigatti – Cum Invocarem
Claudio Monteverdi – Iam Moriar, Mi Fili (Pianto Della Madonna)
Alessandro Grandi – Ave Maris Stella
Alessandro Grandi – Amo Christum
Biagio Marini – Sonata Quarta in A minor
Francesco Maria Marini – Jesu Dulcis Memoria
Dario Castello – Exultate Deo
Giovanni Rovetta – Salve Regina
Here is one of the pieces they performed that night:
A concert of Vivaldi pieces, performed by the Hanover Band, led by Richard Egarr.
A Thursday evening concert – both of us had pretty chock-full diaries in those days, but Janie and I both managed to limit our appointments to avoid late afternoon ones.
We heard:
Concerto in G minor for 2 violins and cello Op 3 No 2
Motet “In Furore Iustissimae Irae” for soprano, 2 violins, viola and bass
Concerto in E minor for violin Op 6 No 5
Concerto in D minor for violin Op 6 No 6
Motet “Per la Solennita di S. Antonio” Vos aurae per montes
Concerto in D major for 4 violins, Op 3 No 1
Here’s at least a sample from each of the pieces we heard that night – sadly none by The Hanover Band who didn’t tend to record this stuff. The “In furore iustissimae irae” is worth the price of admission alone.
A delicious concert of baroque, mostly sacred, music at The Wig. We had thrown ourselves into the baroque season that year, venturing even on a Wednesday evening, which was usually off limits in our busy lives back then. I recall that the effort was well worth it.
We heard:
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer – Sonata no 8 in G
Sebastian Knüpfer – Wenn Mein Stundlein Vorhanden Ist
Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in G Minor, BWV 235
Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in G Major, BWV 236
Georg Muffat – Sonata ‘a cinque’ in D
Johann Kuhnau – Tristis Est Anima Mea
Back then, The King’s Consort was a bit of an “all stars” affair in the early music world, with Carolyn Sampson, Rebecca Outram, Charles Daniels and Andrew Carwood, to name but four, all appearing under Robert King’s banner.
Some unusual pieces in there too. Let’s see if I can dig out some tasty samples. Here’s a sweet performance of the Schmelzer by Ensemble Masques
The Knüpfer was part of The King’s Consort’s recording projects around that time. Here is their recording:
The first of the Bach Masses at the centre of this concert, BWV 235, has been beautifully recorded live by the Netherlands Bach Society.
Here is Herreweghe’s version of the Kyrie from the Bach Mass BWV 236. You can load and click through for the whole of this mass if you wish:
The King’s Consort had also recently recorded the Kuhnau a couple of years before this concert. Here is their beautiful recording.
Crumbs, Janie and I went to the Wigmore Hall to see a lot of baroque concerts that season. Here’s another one we rated as:
superb.
Kontrabande were terrific. Had they been 1970s rock rather than 17th & 18th century baroque they might have been described as a supergroup. Dig this list of great names:
Charles Humphries,
Clare Salaman,
Jane Norman,
Katherine McGillivray,
Richard Campbell,
William Hunt,
Laurence Cummings,
James Johnstone,
Elizabeth Kenny.
This is what they played that night:
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto for strings and basso continuo in D minor RV 128
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Cantata “Vestro Principi divino” RV 633
Antonio Caldara – Sonata a tre Op 1 No 5
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Stabat Mater RV 621
Antonio Caldara – Cantata “Soffri, mio caro Alcino”
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto for Lute in D major
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Cantata “Nisi Dominus”
I couldn’t find any YouTubes of Kontraband on-line, but the following one of Caldara sonatas and cantatas is very pleasing to the ear – I’d forgotten how much Caldara’s music pleased us that night:
A pair of baroque concerts over that weekend – Friday evening and Saturday evening. We chose to go and see both. It was part of a series named “Bach & His Contemporaries”.
I logged that Janie and I both described the concerts as:
superb.
On the Friday evening we saw/heard:
Johann Sebastian Bach – Trio Sonata in G for violin, flute and continuo
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer – Chaconne in D minor for solo harpsicord
Diderik Buxtehude – Sonata in B flat for violin and viola da gamba Op 1 no 4 BuxWV255
Johann Sebastian Bach – Sonata in B minor for flute and harpsicord, BWV 1030
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber – Passacaglia for solo violin
Johann Sebastian Bach – Sonata in G minor for viola da gamba and harpsicord, BWV 1029
Johann Sebastian Bach – Trio Sonata from the Musical Offering, BWB 1079
On the Saturday evening we heard:
Georg Philipp Telemann – Suite in A minor for recorder and strings
Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto in C for two harpsicords, BWV 1061
Johann Sebastian Bach – Sonata in G for violin and harpsicord, BWV 1019
Sylvius Leopold Weiss – Tombeau sur le mort de M Comte de Logy
Johann Sebastian Bach – Orchestral Suite no 2 in B minor
Trevor Pinnock, Rachel Podger and some of the others recorded the Bach trio sonatas that year. I have put together a playlist on YouTube Music which includes those lovely sonatas and some other pieces from the January 2000 weekend – click here to listen to that playlist. Don’t be put off by the strike through on the link – anyone can hear the playlist but you will get adverts if you are not yourself a YouTube Music subscriber.
If you prefer to just click the odd embed, here is one of the Bach sonatas we heard Trevor and Rachel play:
I wasn’t familiar with the work of JCF Fischer. Here’s Trevor Pinnock playing Fischer’s passacaglia, not the chaconne we heard. Still lovely:
Here are some other people playing (part of) the Telemann Overture/Suite that we heard:
The Weiss piece was a delicious listen. Here is Evangelina Mascardi giving it a go.
We heard William Carter play the Weiss at that January 2000 concert, long before Janie’s “mystery punter” evening at the same venue:
