Tag: Tōru Takemitsu

Broken Branches, Sean Shibe, Karim Sulayman, Wigmore Hall, 14 July 2026

We both thoroughly enjoyed this concert, despite it coming at the end of a remarkably busy day looking at paint, shelving, cricket and tennis.

I had a slight sense of foreboding, recalling that our previous sighting of Sean Shibe at the Wig was in similarly tired circumstances, with some ear-drum splitting electric guitar thrown in to ensure we stayed wide awake.

softLOUD, Sean Shibe, Wigmore Hall, 28 June 2019

This concert, with Karim Sulayman, was a far more relaxed and relaxing affair. We heard:

  • Henry Purcell – Music for a while from Incidental music for Oedipus, King of Thebes Z583
  • John Dowland – • Preludium • Fantasia No. 7 • Time stands still  
  • Giulio Caccini – Dalla porta d’oriente (you might choose to enjoy this personal favourite on YouTube music)
  • Claudio Monteverdi – • Sì dolce è’l tormento SV332 • La mia turca che d’amor
  • Trad/Sephardic – La Prima Vez arranged by Karim Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Trad/Andalusian – Lamma Bada Yatathanna arranged by Karim Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Sayed Darwish – El Helwa Di arranged by Karim Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Ziad Rahbani – Li Beirut based on Joaquín Rodrigo arranged by Karim & Fairuz Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Jonathan Harvey – Sufi Dance
  • Layale Chaker – A butterfly in New York
  • Tōru Takemitsu – I. Wainscot Pond (after a painting by Cornelia Foss) from In the Woods
  • Benjamin Britten – Songs from the Chinese Op. 58 • The Big Chariot • The Old Lute • The Autumn Wind • The Herd-Boy • Depression • Dance Songs
  • Encore: Tomás Méndez – Cucurrucucú paloma

We were fully engaged from the Purcell through to and including the enchanting Li Beirut arrangement.

The more modern music, as is often the case, was a struggle for us. I never have “got” those Britten songs and I’m sure now I never will.

Still, the concert was a triumph. Janie especially liked the baroque pieces -not least the Italian songs, and the encore. Which is is just as well because we shall be returning to the Wig three days later (today, as I write) for some more of that sort of thing. Indeed I have only just (subsequent to booking) realised that Karim Sulayman is part of the ensemble that we’ll be hearing.

If you are keen to hear pretty much the whole Broken Branches thing, here is a stream from 2024, when the pair performed the same concert in Philadelphia:

Miloš & The Piatti Quartet At The Wigmore Hall, 13 July 2025

Miloš: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, CC BY 2.0

Janie and I were really taken with Miloš Karadaglić when we first saw him, at The Wig, more than 10 years ago:

Miloš Karadaglić, Wigmore Hall, 22 February 2015

I bought some CDs (remember them?) on the back of that concert and we attempted to see him again a year or two later, but he had to cancel that concert due to injury and disappeared off our radar for a while.

I had noticed his name on schedules relatively recently, but this was the first time that the timings worked for us…more or less.

I say “more or less”, because I knew that we would most likely be at Lord’s that day for the fourth day of the test match…

Four Out Of Five Days At The England v India Lord’s Test, 10 to 14 June 2025

…and a day at the test followed by a concert at The Wig was sure to be a rigorous test for Pinky, my brand-new hip.

Still, Lord’s and the Wigmore Hall are the only places left on the planet where some stewards and fellow patrons still occasionally refer to me as “young man”, so it had to be worth a go.

Pinky and I passed the test with flying colours, as did Miloš Karadaglić. But things have also changed for Miloš since we last saw him. For a start, he has become mononymous; “Miloš” is his entire billing name now. Miloš now plays with some strapping on one of his hands and plays accompanied rather than solo, perhaps to help manage his workload.

When I booked the concert the plan was for him to be accompanied by an accordion player, but the concert was changed substantially between booking and concert. Instead we saw him with the Piatti Quartet, which, frankly, was more to our taste than I imagine the accordion would have been.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resources for the concert.

The concert was lovely. Miloš still plays delightfully and with great elegance. You could sense that he had built a great rapport with the quartet for this concert/mini-tour. The Piatti Quartet also played beautifully.

Miloš explained that, in a musical world that is increasingly about playlists that keep individual items short, while mixing and matching styles, this concert was designed like such a playlist. Hence the four movements of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Quintet unusually peppered throughout the concert.

In the first half we heard:

  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: I. Allegro, vivo e schietto
  • Benedetto Marcello – Oboe Concerto in D minor: II. Adagio
  • Luigi Boccherini – Guitar Quintet in D G448 ‘Fandango’
  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: II. Andante mesto
  • Malcolm Arnold – Serenade for guitar and strings Op. 50
  • Anon – Spanish Romance
  • Ástor Piazzolla – Libertango

This video clip of him playing the Spanish Romance will give you a sense of his playing:

During the interval, Janie struck up a conversation with the American lady who was sitting, alone, to Janie’s right. The lady told us that she had become a bit of a groupie for Miloš, having seen him several times at various locations in the recent past. She seemed surprised (and perhaps a little envious) that we had seen him as long ago as 2015. She then admitted that she had somewhat of a crush on Miloš and blushed. I asked politely what Miloš has that I haven’t got? I thought I heard a rather complimentary response from the blushing lady, although Janie claims to have heard the response differently. “Young man” was not part of the answer in either of our rememberings.

In the second half we heard:

  • Philip Glass – String Quartet No. 2 ‘Company’
  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: III. Scherzo. Allegro con spirito, alla marcia
  • Pablo Casals – Song of the Birds (arranged by Piatti Quartet)
  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: IV. Finale. Allegro con fuoco
  • Harold Arlen – The Wizard of Oz: Over the Rainbow (arranged by Tōru Takemitsu)
  • The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
  • The Beatles – Fool on the Hill
  • The Beatles -Here Comes the Sun
  • Encore: Antonio Luca Vivaldi – Concerto in D major for flute, oboe, violin and bassoon RV90: II. Largo

Here is a link to the Programme text.