Tag: Benjamin Britten

New Elizabethan Award Showcase: Hey Nonie No Music And Far More Besides, Wigmore Hall, Lunchtime, 9 February 2019

I was keen to see this concert of young award-winning artistes, including two young guitarists, Jesse Flowers and Andrey Lebedev, who would be performing Elizabethan music. Actually, the Elizabethan theme included both Elizabethan periods – i.e. Tudor music and also music from the last 60 or so years.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resource on this concert, which is not enormously forthcoming with detail but gives you an idea.

Ian Pittaway gets really irritated when I mention Janie’s aversion to the lyrics of a certain type of Tudor secular song, which she describes as “Hey Nonie No” music.

Ian P points out, perhaps with some veracity, that there is only one Elizabethan song that actually contains the offending words,
“Hey Nonie No”. Well, Ian ran out of road today, as the concert contained, amongst many other things, Thomas Morley’s It Was A Lover And His Lass, which certainly contains that line. I felt some of Janie’s finger nails digging into the back of my hand when we got to that bit.

But the Dowland songs were his usual darker stuff: In Darkness Let Me Dwell, Now O Now I Needs Must Part and Come Heavy Sleep, which Janie and I both tend to prefer both musically and lyrically.

Janie wondered why the words to these more substantial songs are not credited to their authors. I didn’t know the answer to that question but my guess is/was that they are words that had been handed down through oral tradition and that the first time they were published along with (e.g. Dowland’s) music, the authorship was lost in the mists of time. But at the time of writing I seek an authoritative view on this point.

Anyway, below is a more comprehensive list of the music played, taken from the programme.

Both of the guitarists played using modern, vertical fingers on the right hand rather than the horizontal finger technique Ian P is encouraging in me. I must say I thought the Tudor music sounded lovely on the modern guitar in the hands of both of these guitarists.

Janie and I also both enjoyed the modern-Elizabethan solo guitar pieces; Britten’s Nocturnal after John Dowland and Philip Houghton’s Ophelia…a Haunted Sonata. Let’s just say that we found the modern songs too difficult for us.

I had spotted sitting near to us one of my occasional real tennis pals from Lord’s, Michael, who I knew was an accomplished guitarist, as he had studied Benjy (my baritone ukulele/Tudor guitar) with great interest one time at Lord’s.

We chatted with Michael for a while during the interval, choosing not to bother with refreshments at that hour, before hunkering down for the short but more difficult second half of the concert.

Janie and I had never been to a Saturday lunchtime concert before and I’m not sure we’ll be returning on a Saturday lunchtime again in a hurry. It just doesn’t time well with our other regular activities, so it all felt like a bit of a rush, early in the weekend, getting to the Wig on time. Mind you, it is surprisingly easy enough to park around there on a Saturday lunchtime, we learnt…

…and we did very much enjoy the concert. Janie has decided to hedge her bets in the matter of the term “Hey Nonie No” music, by rebranding it as “Ring Around The Rosebuds” music. Very cunning.

Meanwhile I cannot find any examples of these youngsters playing Tudor music on-line, but here is a very young Jesse Flowers playing some Bach lute music transcribed for guitar, beautifully:

20th Century Masterpieces For Guitar, Laura Snowden, St John’s Smith Square, 26 February 2015

Just a few days after seeing Miloš at The Wig, Janie and I saw another guitar concert, this time Laura Snowden at SJSS.

A bit unfair on Laura, the comparison. She is very good indeed, but clearly not Miloš level; at least not yet.

Her musical choices were a little tougher too.  I really like the Villa-Lobos guitar stuff, but it isn’t everyone’s taste. None of the stuff she performed would be.

But she plays with great clarity and warmth.

We enjoyed our evening and I vowed to return. So far, just the once and alone to a lunchtime concert – click here. But Janie liked her too.

Janie tends to makes a fuss about traipsing to SJSS, then tends to be pleasantly surprised at how near it is and how easily she can park. This evening was no exception.

Fabio Zanon, Wigmore Hall, Lunchtime Concert, 22 November 2013

A real treat of a day off, this one. Our first treat was this lunchtime concert at the Wigmore Hall.

We were most impressed with Fabio Zanon.

Click here for the Wigmore Hall programme for this concert.

It was Britten centenary day, so the centrepiece was Britten’s Dowland-inspired Nocturnal, although we did get some Peter Phillips to get a genuine Tudor feel and also some Bach and others to cruise us through the centuries.

Here is a YouTube of Zanon playing some Scarlatti…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48EyPonZ82A

…and here is a YouTube of someone else playing a Peter Philips pavan on the lute…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvMNlzWAFwQ

..and here is a Julian Bream masterclass on that Britten Nocturnal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpNZROHfP_k

After lunch at The Wig, we went on to see an exhibition about Zoroastrianism at SOAS, but that’s a different story – click here or below:

The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination, Brunei gallery, SOAS, 22 November 2013

A Prom Commemorating The Day War Broke Out, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle, Royal Albert Hall, 3 September 1989

Another CBSO with Simon Rattle concert and another note in my diary wondering who joined me for this one. My prime suspect this time is Bobbie. For sure she was around again by then, as she had been away for most of August that year but for sure was back by the end of the month when we saw the Merchant Of Venice:

The Merchant Of Venice by William Shakespeare, Phoenix Theatre, 29 August 1989

Here is a link to the BBC stub for this prom. This is what we heard:

  • Benjamin Britten – Sinfonia da Requiem
  • Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 7 in E minor

Anthony Payne in the Independent thinks Mahler’s 7th is a tough work and that the CBSO under Rattle did a good job with it:

Rattle Prom Payne IndyRattle Prom Payne Indy 05 Sep 1989, Tue The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Robert Henderson in the Telegraph thought the pairing of these two works ingenious while expressing his own doubts about Mahler’s 7th:

Rattle Prom Henderson TelegraphRattle Prom Henderson Telegraph 05 Sep 1989, Tue The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Want to judge for yourself? Here is Thomas Adès conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Sinfonia da Requiem at the Proms in 2013…

…and here is Claudio Abbado with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra doing Mahler’s 7th.

A Scouse Second Night Of The Proms, Royal Albert Hall, 22 July 1989

No doubt about it – Bobbie joined me for this one. She was keen to see the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under the auspices of the great Czech conductor Libor Pešek. I was keen to see how he would deal with one of my favourite works, Smetana’s Má Vlast.

Here is a link to the BBC stub for this concert.

We heard:

  • Benjamin Britten – Four Sea Interludes from ‘Peter Grimes’
  • Sergey Rachmaninov – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
  • Bedrich Smetana – From Má Vlast:
    1. * No. 6 Blaník
    2. * No. 3 Šárka
    3. * No. 2 Vltava
    4. * No. 4 From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields
  • Bedrich Smetana – Skocná (Dance of the Comedians) from The Bartered Bride (encore)
  • Julius Fučík – Entry of the Gladiators (second encore)

Why Libor Pešek chose those Má Vlast four movements, and in that order, I couldn’t say. It was all wonderful to hear, in any case.

William Leece in the Liverpool Echo suggested that the Liverpool mob under Pesek brought The Royal Albert hall down:

Pesek Prom Leece EchoPesek Prom Leece Echo 24 Jul 1989, Mon Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, Merseyside, England) Newspapers.com

Strangely, although the national papers promoted this concert widely in advance, none chose to review it by the looks of it. Typical.

Here’s one of the sea interludes performed by the very outfit we saw:

Here’s Stephen Hough with the BBC Symphony from the first night of the Proms 2013 with the Rachmaninov Paganini:

Here’s Libor Pesek and The Royal Liverpool mob playing their four movements of Ma Vlast in Libor Prom order:

Alternatively, if you want to hear that recording in full in Smetana sequence, I have made it available on this playlist – click here. Do not be put off if you see a seemingly erased link – you can hear it whether or not you have a YouTube Music account – you just get adverts of you don’t.

In truth I couldn’t bring to mind Skocná – Dance of the Comedians, but James Levine & the Vienna lot brought it all back to me:

I’m really not at all sure that Entry of the Gladiators belonged with this concert, but that’s what they did. The piece was originally written as a serious piece of military marching music, although how anyone with that moustache composing that piece expected to be taken seriously, even back then, I cannot imagine.

On reflection, I think the use of that piece as a second encore was a mistake. When Libor Pesek suggested that they play a second encore, one of the scouse musicians loudly expressed his discontent with the traditional local expletive, but unfortunately Pesek thought the fellow said:

Oh, Fučík!

It was a great concert nonetheless.

Alleyn’s Concert “A Big Flop”, “Concert Went Well”, Trial By Jury, Battle Of Stamford Bridge…Reviewed With Evidence, Late March 1975

An artist’s impression of the Alleyn’s Lower School Orchestra in Spring 1975, sometimes misattributed as “The Battle of Stamford Bridge, from The Life of King Edward the Confessor by Matthew Of Paris“

I somehow remained in the Lower School Orchestra that season, despite having shown no aptitude whatsoever for playing the violin, even though the violin was “the family instrument” on my mother’s side.

Turn It Up To Max & Spit: The Baltic Origins Of My Mother’s (Marcus) Family Revealed

My mother’s pain at my musical ineptitude was exacerbated by the cruel fact that Andy Levinson, from our street, showed some real talent for the violin. How could that be fair? The Levinsons were a medical family. Andy should have been fiddling around with medical instruments, not literally fiddling with far more musical instrument success than Ian, who was, after all, trying his very best.

Me switching to the viola for a while didn’t help. For the March 1975 concert, I was consigned to the second violins, ensuring that I had a little less to do, thus causing minimal disruption to the overall sound of the orchestra.

“There are other options, little Ian. Have you considered viols, viola da gamba…”

Anyway, all of the above is context…as is the fact that my mum was still grumpy and still hobbling around the place in mid to late March, I think with walking sticks rather than crutches by then, having had her hip replaced in mid February.

Here’s the diary:

Here’s a transliteration of that diary page.

Sunday, 16 March 1975 classes good. Feld’s lunch. Came home with Grandma Anne. Kalooki 2p up. TV Golden Shot.

Monday, 17 March 1975 – Fives good. Prepared for Tuesday. TV Likely Lads, Alias Smith and Jones, Goodies/Rolf Harris.

Tuesday, 18 March 1975 – first day of concert. In my opinion a big flop. TV Flintstones (Rock Quarry)

I’ll return shortly to the question of whether or not the concert was a big flop.

Meanwhile, and far more interestingly, for some reason I thought it important to note the name of the Flintstones episode I enjoyed that same day. This meant that, 50 years later, I could track that episode down and include it in Ogblog. I might have had five thumbs back then but clearly I also had forethought.

Wednesday, 19 March 1975 – concert went well this evening. Watched Trial By Jury. Mr. Tindale very good indeed.

“It’s hard to tell how the concert went from these conflicting reviews, but the judgement on Mr Tindale as the judge is very clear”, Tindale J.

Thursday, 20 March 1975 – some good results. Classes good. TV Man About The House, Dave Allen.

Friday, 21 March 1975 – concert went well. TV Porridge, MASH.

Saturday, 22 March 1975 – went to 1st soccer match Chelsea V Middlesbrough. Concert, mum & dad, Trial By Jury.

I have written up my first ever visit to a football match – a visit to Stamford Bridge, previously – click here or below:

My “First Soccer Match”, Chelsea v Middlesbrough, Stamford Bridge, 22 March 1975

But had the concert been any good or not? We need evidence. Below is an extract from Mr Kingman’s Scribblerus review of the entire event, mostly covering the Psalm 150 bit which was the bit in which I participated.

If you are aching to read the entire review, including the review of Trevor Tindale’s performance in Trial By Jury, click here for a pdf of the full page.

Sunday. 23 March 1975 – classes mock Seder. Recorded Psalm 150 and me. Took up most of the afternoon and evening.

Good gracious! Is it possible that the recording of me & Psalm 150 has survived these 50 years? Of course it is more than possible.

Firstly, my rather lengthy intro, which is also a supplement to my diary notes, I suppose:

Then the five minute concert piece recording that apparently took much of the day. Arguably, that was not time especially well spent. Had I spent more hours learning my instrument than twiddling knobs on the tape recorder, who knows how my playing might have sounded. As it is, you need a trigger warning, only click if you have robust hearing and a broad mind:

Mercifully, that is the only known recording of my attempts with the violin.

My final recollection from the concert is my mother’s comment, in the form of a question, after my performance:

Why was your bow going up at the same time as everyone else’s coming down…and coming down while everyone else’s was going up?

I never forgot that damning question, mum; never.