Tag: Wigmore Hall

Steuerman Does Goldberg At The Wigmore Hall, 11 February 1999

Unusual for us to go to a concert on a Thursday evening in those days. I don’t think I’d yet heard The Goldberg Variations live and was keen to do so.

Jean-Louis Steuerman, that boy can sure tinkle the ivories.

Take my word for it.

Actually, no need for you to take my word for it – here’s that very chap playing that very aria:

I told you he can play.

Kontrabande At The Wigmore Hall, 6 January 1999

25 years ago, Janie and I decided to party like it’s 1999 at the start of 1999. What better to do that than a concert of baroque music at The Wigmore Hall.

These are the pieces we heard/saw:

  • Cantata “Cessate Omai Cessate”, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi
  • Sinfonia to Cantata BWV 49, Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 (also transcribed Harpsicord), Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Cantata BWV 82 “Ich Habe Genug”, Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Concerto for Viola da Gamba and Recorder in A Minor, Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Cantata BWV 170 “Vergnugte Ruh”, Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Standard previewed the concert thusly:

Standard Kontrabande 6 Jan 1999Standard Kontrabande 6 Jan 1999 06 Jan 1999, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Perhaps there was a change of programme or perhaps my notes missed out the Handel by mistake. I’ll check back to the programme when next I can face the thought of an archaeological dig into my programme collection.

For sure we saw the small chamber ensemble, Kontrabande, with Charles Humphries doing the counter-tenor bit and Clare Salaman on the baroque violin. Sadly, I learn that Clare, who was an expert on strange and ancient instruments, didn’t make it to the 25th anniversary of this Kontrabande concert.

Here’s a video of Clare playing a strange and ancient instrument – the nyckelharpa – I don’t believe I have ever seen this instrument played live:

Here is an audio YouTube of Charles Humphries singing one of the Bach arias we heard, vergnugte Ruh, accompanied by Kontrabande:

While here is the Bremer Baroque Orchestra (similar scale to Kontrabande if I remember correctly) playing the very Telemann concerto we heard back then:

Homage To Marc Chagall, Wigmore Hall, Chagall Trio & Samuel West, 25 October 1998

Sunday night at “The Wig” to see this concert by the Chagall Trio, peppered with readings from Marc Chagall’s autobiography delivered by my old schoolmate, Samuel West.

We heard:

  • Dmitri Shostakovich – Piano Trio No 2 in E Minor, Op 67              
  • Philip Grange – Homage to Chagall       
  • Igor Stravinsky – Rag-time for Eleven Instruments         
  • Aaron Copland – Vitebsk – Study on a Jewish Theme    

Janie is partial to a bit of Chagall, visually, and is fascinated by Chagall’s life story, so the whole idea seemed to tick a lot of boxes for us. It was indeed a super concert that pleased us.

Nash Ensemble At The Wigmore Hall, 13 October 1998

I think we must have been experimenting a bit at The Wigmore Hall for this one, as I don’t think of this music as being Janie’s taste. Perhaps I was especially keen to encourage her to hear the Richard Strauss songs…or at least i was keen to hear them performed live. Olaf Bär certainly gave them some baritone oomph.

We heard:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Trio in B Flat Op 11 for Clarinet, Cello and Piano         
  • Gustav Mahler – Kindertotenlieder for Voice and Ensemble     
  • Richard Strauss – Five Songs    
  • Arnold Schoenberg – Verklarte Nacht Op 4 for String Sextet.

I sense that I enjoyed this concert more than Janie did.

Haydn & His English Friends, Wigmore Hall, 20 September 1998

Another Sunday evening concert at the Wigmore Hall, this time to explore the church music of Haydn and his contemporaries with Peter Holman, Psalmody and The Parley of Instruments.

We heard:

  • Joseph Haydn – Three Psalms from Improved Psalmody (Ps 31, Ps 41, Ps 69)  
  • Charles Burney – The Dialogue Hymn: Tell Us, O Women          
  • John Stafford Smith – Horrible is the End of th’Unrighteous Generation             
  • Joseph Haydn – The Emperor’s Hymn: Poco Adagio from the String Quartet in C Major, Op 76/3
  • Joseph Haydn -Give to God Our Thankful Songs
  • William Gardiner of Leicester – Give to God Our Thankful Songs            
  • John Foster of High Green, Yorkshire – The God of Gods the Lord Hath Call’d  
  • Johan Arnold Dahmen – Three Songs from Eleven Sacred Songs           
  • Johan Arnold Dahmen – Two Psalms from Improved Psalmody
  • Samuel Webbe Senior – Where, Lord, Shall My Refuge See      
  • William Shield – My God, My King with Joyful View        
  • Thomas Greatorex – This is the Day the Lord Hath Made            
  • Samuel Webbe Junior – Variations in A Major on “”Adeste Fideles”
  • Joseph Haydn – Three Psalms from Improved Psalmody (Ps 61, Ps 26, Ps 50)

Jolly good it was too, in the hands of these experts.