Post-minimal modes - music by Michael Vincent Waller

Michael Vincent Waller The South Shore; XI Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 8 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Music which has modes at its centre, by young American composer

This two-disc set The South Shore on XI Records offers a wide selection of recent chamber music by the young American composer Michael Vincent Waller. On the disc the musicians Conrad Harris, Pauline Kim-Harris, Esther Noh (violins), Dainel Panner (viola), Christine Kim (cello), Yael Manor, Charity Wicks, Nicolas Horvath, Maria Ilic (piano), Carson Cooman (organ), Katie Porter (clarinet), Luna Cholang Kang (flute) and the ensembles Red Desert, 20>>21 Ensemble and Dedalus Ensemble come together in a variety of combinations from solo to large ensembles to perform Michael Vincent Waller's music.

Michael Vincent Waller

Michael Vincent Waller (born 1985) is a young American composer and visual artists who has an impressive avant-garde pedigree in his studies, having studied with La Monte Young, Marion Zazeela (the light artist, designer, painter and musician who sang in La Monte Young's group Theatre of Eternal Music) and Bunita Marcus who is strongly associated with Morton Feldman. Michael Vincent Waller's early work was mainly avant-garde, using microtonality and alternative tunings. His recent work, which has been described as post-minimalist, still preserves the interest in tunings but using alternate scales and modes.

The works on these discs have a clarity and approachability deriving from this espousal of Greek modes. Whilst textures might feel familiar, from minimalist composers, Michael Vincent Waller does not use the repetitions and process-based procedures that we associate with Californian minimalism. Instead he seems to be exploring a calmness and inner tranquillity which has an almost Zen-like feel.

JAM on the Marsh

JAM is back in July with another JAM on the Marsh festival on Romney Marsh, with concerts and events between 9 July and 19 July 2015, curated by composer Paul Mealor. And for those not able to get to the area, one or two key concerts are being done in London too. 

Contemporary music plays a strong role on the festival, with the Chapel Choir of Selwyn College and Onyx Brass, conductor Nicholas Cleobury,  performing Paul Patterson's The Fifth Continent and giving the premiere of Thea Musgrave's The Voices of Our Ancestors which is a festival commission and is Thea Musgrave's first work for choir and ensemble since 1996. The concert, at All Saints, Lydd (11/7/2015) also includes music by Paul Mealor, Eric Whitacre, and Morten Lauridesen. And the ensemble Animatronic (organists Michael Bonaventure and Huw Morgan) will be exploring music for organ and live electronics with music by Michael Bonaventure and Huw Morgan (St Mary in the Marsh, 18/7/2015). The Mousai Singers, conductor Daniel Cook, team up Durufle's Requiem (with organist Simon Hogan) with James MacMillan's Tenebrae Responses and music by Faure, Parry and RVW. (All Saints, Lydd, 18/7/2015)

Other music includes Sounds Baroque directed by Julian Perkins, with soprano Claire Seaton and counter-tenor Andrew Radley in Bach and Pergolesi, organist Daniel Cook playing Brahms, Whitlock, Alain, Heiller and Schumann, and the Festival Chamber Orchestra of Canterbury, conductor Anthony Halstead, in Mozart, Albinoni, Bach, Corelli, Morricone ad Walton. Other events include a family concert as part of JAM's education project Singing Playgrounds, a visit from Sabotage Theatre, Jonty Driver reading his poem Requiem, art and photography exhibitions, and a Romney Marsh Churches tour.

For those stuck in London, the chapel choir of Selwyn College performs its Patterson and Musgrave programme on Thursday 9 July, at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, and the Mousai Singers performs its Durufle and MacMillan programme on Thursday 19 July at St Bride's Church.

Full details are available on the JAM website.

Canto dell dame, and Music for Marie Fel - day two of London Festival of Baroque Music

Carolyn Sampson

Canto delle dame and Music for Marie Fel; Maria Cristina Kiehr, Concerto Soave, Jean-Marc Aymes, Carolyn Sampson, Matt Barber, Ex Cathedra, Jeffrey Skidmore; Day two of the London Festival of Baroque Music at St John's Smith Square
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 16 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Women as composers and as performers in Baroque music at day two of the London Festival of Baroque Music

Having been well and truly launched by Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan (see my review) on Friday, Saturday 16 May 2015 saw the London Festival of Baroque Music addressing the festival theme of women in baroque music with a pair of concerts at St John's Smith Square. 

Maria Cristina Kiehr -  © Catherine Peillon

First soprano Maria Christina Kiehr and Concerto Soave, artistic director Jean-Marc Aymes, in Canto delle dame, a programme of music by 17th century Italian female composers with music, both sacred and secular, by Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, Caterina Assandra, and Isabella Leonarda (along with music by Gioanpietro Del Buono and Benedetto Re). 

Then soprano Caroline Sampson and Ex Cathedra, conductor Jeffrey Skidmore, with actor Matt Barber, presented Music for Marie Fel, bringing to life the world for the 18th century French soprano, with music by Michel-Richard de Lalande, Jean-Joseph Cassandea de Mondonville, Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis Lacoste, Jean-Joseph Mouret and of course Jean-Philippe Rameau, for whom Marie Fel sang a number of roles.

Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan launch the London Festival of Baroque Music

Masaaki Suzuki

Bach cantatas and concertos; Hana Blazikova, Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki; London Festival of Baroque Music at St John's Smith Square
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 16 2015
Star rating: 4.5
Rare visit from Masaaki Suzuki and his ensemble, opening the re-booted festival

Hana Blazikova

The London Festival of Baroque Music is both new and old, having been re-incarnated this year out of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music; the loss of the head sponsor causing a change of name but no loss of excitement and interest in the programming. This year's festival opened at St. John's Smith Square on Friday 15 May 2015 with a concert from Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan in a rare visit to London. They were joined by soprano Hana Blazikova for a programme of Bach concertos and cantatas with the Concerto in D minor for 2 violins, BWV 1043, and Concerto in C minor for oboe and violin, BWV 1060r plus the cantatas 'Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199 and Jauchzet gott in allen Landen! BWV 51 and the aria Alles mitt Gott und nichts ohn ihn BWV 1127.

Maasaki Suzuki directed from the harpsichord, with a small ensemble of seven strings. They made a very up-front sound, rather strong and direct with a sense that no concessions were being made to more 19th century sensibilities of orchestral sound. The result was very vigorous and surprisingly rich toned for such a small group. The solo parts in Bach's double violin concerto were played by the section leaders, Ryo Terakado and Yukie Yamaguchi, and there was a real feeling that these were primus inter pares without the solo parts being over spotlit, thus linking the work to the earlier concerto gross form. The vigorous, strongly articulated Vivace was followed by a graceful Largo with a strong sense of line from the soloists and a graceful sway to underlying rhythm. The Allegro finale was vibrant again with firm articulation, but some graceful details in the solos.

Tintinnabuli - The Tallis Scholars in concert

Arvo Part, Thomas Tallis, Jean Mouton, John Sheppard, Gregorio Allegri; The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips; the Cadogan hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 14 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Music ancient and modern as the vocal ensemble revisits old friends and makes new ones

For their second concert at this season's Choral at Cadogan, Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars returned to the Cadogan Hall on Thursday 14 May 2015, with a programme which mixed works from their latest disc Tintinnabuli featuring music by Arvo Part, with some old favourites. Tallis's Loquebantur variis linguis, Sancte deus and Miserere, Mouton's Nesciens mater, Sheppard's Libera nos, salva nos and Allegri's Miserere were performed alongside Part's The Woman with the Alabaster Box, Tribute to Caesar, Triodion and Which was the son of...

We started with Tallis's seven-part Pentecost motet Loquebantur variis linguis which seemed to delight in busy complexity echoing the speaking in tongues, with the ten singers creating a positively joyous complexity. John Tavener's Leroy Kyrie was relatively short but with Tavener's endless melisma, though for all the calm poise, there was plenty going on underneath. Jean Mouton's motet Nesciens mater had a different sort of calm to it, anchored by the slow moving bass part with glorious textures flowing over it.

Keeping balance as Peter Pan - an encounter with Iestyn Morris

Peter Pan in Cardiff - Iestyn Morris (Peter Pan), Marie Arnet (Wendy) & WNO Chorus - Credit: Clive Barda

Richard Ayres opera Peter Pan receives its UK premiere tonight (16 May 2015) when Welsh National Opera (WNO) performs it in Cardiff in a production directed by Keith Warner, conducted by Erik Nielsen with counter-tenor Iestyn Morris in the title role, a role which he created 18 month ago at the work's premiere in Stuttgart. I caught up with Iestyn, on a day off between final rehearsals, to talk both about what audiences can expect from this operatic version of such an iconic story and how contemporary opera has come to play a significant role in his career.

Introducing Peter Pan

Peter Pan in Stuttgart - Yuko Kakuta (Wendy), Iestyn Morris (Peter Pan)
credit A T Schaefer

With a libretto by Lavinia Greenlaw, the opera is of course, based on the classic J.M Barrie story. In fact, it turns out the story's iconic status, at least in the UK, was a bit of a problem. Richard Ayre's opera was originally a co-commission between Stuttgart Opera, WNO and Berlin's Komische Oper, with the work premiering in German in Stuttgart. But when Stuttgart's production was revealed (you can see more images on the production's page on their website), WNO felt that the dramaturgy was too continental in style and did not reference the British heritage of the story. As this was an opera being aimed at family audiences, it was decided to bring in Keith Warner to direct and in fact it will be Warner's production which travels to Berlin, though Stuttgart's production still exists and is returning next season again with Iestyn Morris. 

But it is not just a case of two different productions, the WNO performances are in English (rather than the German used in Stuttgart), and Richard Ayres has tweaked the opera since the premiere. So Iestyn Morris has two different versions of the same opera, in two different languages with two different productions, each with a very different set of flying constraints. So no problems there. In fact when talking to him, Iestyn seemed remarkably sanguine about the whole thing, but then I suppose that a singer who spends a lot of time singing baroque opera must get used to the vagaries of versions, editions and languages.

Guildhall School - Gold Medal 2015 winners

 Gold Medal 2015 joint winners
Marta Fontanals-Simmons (L) & Jennifer Witton

Soprano Jennifer Witton and mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons were announced as joint winners of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's Gold Medal for 2015. The Gold Medal is celebrating its centenary, the first medal being awarded by the school in 2015. Since 1950 it has been open to singers and instrumentalists in alternate years. Previous winners include William Primrose (1922), Jacqueline du Pré (1960), Patricia Rozario (1979), Tasmin Little (1986) and Bryn Terfel (1989).

This year's final took place at the Barbican with performers giving a short programme with piano accompaniment, and a programme of arias accompanied by the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, conductor Dominic Wheeler. Jennifer Witton’s performance included Poulenc's Fêtes Galantes with piano accompaniment from Ben-San Lau and Bellini’s Ah! non credea mirarti…Ah! non giunge uman pensiero from La Sonnambula with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra. Marta Fontanals-Simmons’ performance included Britten’s A Charm from A Charm of Lullabies with piano accompaniment from Timothy End and Rossini’s Nacqui all’affanno…Non più mesta from La Cenerentola with the orchestra.

We caught Marta Fontanals-Simmons in the title role of Jonathan Dove's Pinocchio at the Guildhall School last year (see my review). Jennifer Witton was in the vocal ensemble for the Royal Opera's production of Monteverdi's Orfeo at the Roundhouse earlier this year (see my review)

Rachel Podger and Sinfonia Cymru

Rachel Podger

If you missed Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque in London this week (see my review) and can't wait until the Brecon Baroque Festival in October, then help is at hand.
 
In an intriguing meeting of styles, Brecon based Baroque music specialist, violinist Rachel Podger will be teaming up with Sinfonia Cymru, the Cardiff-based chamber orchestra, for a programme of Bach, Purcell, Vivaldi and Telemann at The Ffwrnes, Llanelli (Friday 29 May), The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Saturday 30 May) and The Riverfront, Newport (Sunday 31 May).

It something of a new venture for the orchestra, their first all-baroque programme. Rachel Podger will be performing Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor and Suite No 3 in D Major, plus Concerto No 10 from Vivaldi’s L’Estro Armonico, and music by Purcell, Fux and Telemann. It will be an interesting and creative meeting of minds, as the players more used to 19th and 20th century repertoires meet a very different playing style.

Baroque London: Music for Court and Salon

Rachel Podger
© Jonas Sacks

Handel, Geminiani, Purcell, Boyce, Avison; Rachel Podger, Brecon Baroque; The Aspect Foundation at the 20th Century Theatre
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 13 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Engaging and above all fun; music from 18th century London

In Baroque London: Music for Court and Salon, the Aspect Foundation continued its Music Capitals series at the Twentieth Century Theatre in Notting Hill on Wednesday 13 May 2015. Lecturer Richard Wigmore, was joined by violinist Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque (Pavlo Beznosiuk - violin, Alison McGillivray - cello, viola da gamba, Marcin Swiatkewicz - harpsichord) for an exploration of music in 17th and 18th century London with trio sonatas by Handel and Purcell, violin sonatas by Francesco Geminiani, William Boyce and Charles Avison.

Rachel Podger, Pavlo Beznosiuk, Alison McGillivray and Marcin Swiatkewicz started things off with Handel's Trio Sonata in D major, Op.5 No.2, HWV 397. Handel's Opus 5 sonatas were assembled for publication in 1739, few were written specifically for trio sonata with Handel re-using material from a variety of sources. Opus 5, no.2 seems to be full of dance movements thus making it a highly attractive sequence of movements. The two violinists made a fine-grained slim sound, and matching their tone well and throughout the evening the lively interaction and easy balance between Rachel Podger and Pavlo Beznosiuk was noticeable. Handel's trio sonata opened with a very affecting Adagio which led into a lively but steady Allegro with notable articulation. The Musette with its constant drones double stopping on one of the violins, made a charming movement and contrasted with the lively Allegro where the two violins played alone. A perky, almost toe-tapping March lead into a catchy gavotte.

Straight or swung? How do you like the Cole Porter Songbook, Sarah Fox and James Burton present their version.

The Cole Porter Songbook; Sarah Fox, James Burton; Signum Classics
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 3 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Duo partnership from young soprano, with much to enjoy

How do you like your great American Songbook? In the 1980's I worked with a couple of cabaret groups and we debated this endlessly, they preferred it with a swing in the Ella Fitzgerald mould whilst I liked it more straight, and favoured Joan Morris and William Bolcom.

This new disc from Sarah Fox and James Burton on Signum Classics gives us their version of the Cole Porter Songbook, with an interesting selection of songs ranging from classics to the not so well known, Anything Goes to Mrs Lowsborough Goodby, Night and day to Don't fence me in.

Sarah Fox has a distinguished career in opera and on the concert platform with performances including Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Glyndebourne and Royal Danish opera. But she also performers regularly on Friday Night is Music Night on BBC Radio 2, and with John Wilson and his orchestra. She and James Burton have performed this repertoire together for some time. They form a strong and natural duo, with James Burton contributing lively and imaginative accompaniments as well as joining Sarah Fox on some numbers.

Any selection of Cole Porter's songs is liable to be partial, as he wrote so many. Here they manage to include many of my favourites including ones like The Physician, Miss Otis regrets and Tale of the Oyster which are classics but which do not always get included in anthologies.

Yale and Juilliard ensembles in the UK

Yale Schola Cantorum and David Hill

During May 2015 there is a chance to hear two fine student ensembles from American universities, the Yale Schola Cantorum a chamber choir supported by Yale Institute of Sacred Music with Yale University, and Juilliard415, the Juilliard School's principal period instrument ensemble. Conducted by David Hill, principal conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum, the two ensembles are performing in concerts in Winchester Cathedral, Old Royal Naval College Chapel (London), St George's Chapel Windsor, the University Church of St Mary (Oxford), St John's Smith Square, Westminster Abbey, Trinity College Chapel (Cambridge) as well as in Saint Sulpice in Paris. 

The events run from 21 May to 31 May 2015, and are a mixture of concerts and performances of Evensong. Repertoire for the concerts includes Shout Joy! by the young American composer Daniel Kellog, and the premiere of Roderick Williams' O Brother Man, plus Haydn's Symphony no. 94, 'Surprise' and Beethoven Mass in C. Roderick Williams' work is being premiered in by the ensembles in New Haven and New York, before they give the work's European premiered in Oxford.

For the full concert details, see after the break.

Sketches by Felicja Blumental

John Ogden drawn by Felicja Blumental

The Polish-Brazilian pianist Felicja Blumental died in 1991, and recently her daughter has discovered that one of her childhood autograph albums, stored in an attic, contains around 20 of Blumental's own sketches. Blumental was recognised as an artist during her lifetime, but these new sketches add an interesting insight into the interlinking of her musical and artistic careers.

Josef Krips drawn by Felicja Blumental

Blumental had a long career as a concert pianist, and whilst on concert tours she and her husband Markus Mizne would visit artists studios. The two formed personal relationships with artists such as Kokoschka, Chagall, Van Dongen, Foujita and Pons. It seems that during the visits, Blumental would be sketching and these 20 sketches are clearly some of the fruits. The portrait of Van Dongen even has compliment autographed in the 80-year-old artist's own hand. Blumental first started drawing in school, where she drew caricatures of teachers, and though she had no formal artistic training she took part in life classes. She often painted at night if she was involved in rehearsals during the day.

There are drawings of Marian Anderson, Eileen Farrell, Edwin Fischer, Wilhelm Backhaus, Arturo Toscanini, Ernest Alexandre Ansermet, Victoria de los Ángeles, Marguerite Long, Guiomar Novaes, Ida Haendel, Beniamino Gigli and John Ogden, which she kept as a memento of each particular concert. And drawings were often on random pieces of paper or concert programmes. It is hoped to arrange an exhibition of the drawings in Tel Aviv later in the year.

Felicja Blumental's recordings are available on Brana Records.

Opera North 2015/16

Opera North's 2015/16 season is, of course, notable for the fact that they will be giving complete performances of Wagner's Ring in Peter Mumford's concert staging, conducted by Richard Farnes. Whilst this is a delectable treat to look forward to, there are in fact lots of other goodies on offer in a season full of variety. It is clear from the selection of works on offer, that the performances of the Ring are taking something of a financial toll on the season, but general director Richard Mantle has managed to craft a season of interest. There will be a new production of Giordano's Andrea Chenier directed by Annabel Arden, and a new opera Pleasure from Mark Simpson, plus revivals of Tom Cairns' production of Janacek's Jenufa, as well as Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. On the lighter side, there is a new staging of Cole Porter's Kiss me Kate and a new collaboration with the West Yorkshire Playhouse with James Brining directing Sondheim's Into the Woods.

Kiss me Kate is conducted by David Charles Abell, who has prepared a new critical edition of the score, and will be directed by Jo Davies with choreography by Will Tuckett, and will feature Jeni Bern, and Quiryn de Lang. Annabel Arden will direct Opera North's first ever production of Giordano's Andrea Chenier with Rafael Rojas in the title role and Robert Hayward as Gerard (the two appeared against each other in Opera North's 2014 production of Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West), with Annemarie Kremer (who has sung Norma and Vitellia for the company) as Maddalena. Olivier von Dohnany will conduct. Mark Simpson's new (and first) opera Pleasure is directed by Tim Albery and conducted by Nichols Kok, and will feature soprano Lesley Garrrett. Into the Woods will be directed by James Brining, artistic director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Wagner's Ring is double or triple cast with Katherine Broderick, Kelly Cae Hogan and Alwyn Mellor sharing Brunnhilde, Daniek Frank and Mati Turi sharing Siegfried and Michael Druiett, Robert Hayward and Bela Perencz sharing Wotan. Susan Bickley and Yvonne Howard share Fricke, whilst Lee Bisset and Alwyn Mellor share Brunnhilde. Richard Farnes conducts all performances.

Katie Bray, Nicholas Watts and Gavan Ring star in the revival of Giles Havergal's perennial production of The Barber of Seville, conducted by Stuart Stratford and Timothy Burke.Ylva Kilhlberg, who sang Emilia Marty in Opera North's 2012 production of Janacek's Makropoulos Case, returns for the title role in Jenufa with Tom Cairns returning to revive his production, conducted by Aleksandar Markovic, with Susan Bickley as Kostelnicka, Ed Lyon as Steve and David Butt Philip as Laca. The lovers in Tim Albery's production of Cosi fan tutte will include Helen Sherman, Nicholas Watts and Gavan Ring, with Ellie Laugharne and William Dazeley as Despina and Don Alfonso.  Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore in Daniel Slater's production, will feature Richard Burkhard as Dulcamara with Gabriela Istoc, Jung Soo Yun and Duncan Rock. Rock and Istoc both appeared in the 2014 production of La Boheme.

The Ring is being taken on a grand tour of Leeds, Nottingham, Salford, London and Gateshead, whilst the remaining operas are on the usual circuit of Leeds, Newcastle, Salford Quays and Nottingham. Pleasure plays at the Howard Assembly Room before moving to Liverpool, Aldeburgh and the Lyric Hammersmith.

Shades and Contrasts

Carlo Domeniconi, Isaac Albeniz, Francisco Tarrega, Sven Lundestad, Dionisio Aguado, Agustin Barrios Mangore, Egberto Gismonti; Christina Sandengen; Odarek
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 1 2015
Star rating: 3.5
Intriguing mix of pieces from young Norwegian guitarist

Christina Sandsengen is a young Norwegian classical guitarist and on this new disc on the Odradek label she has assembled an interesting mixture of new and old works, under the title of Shades and Contrasts. Alongside music by Isaac Albeniz and Francisco Tarrega she plays music by Carlo Domeniconi, Sven Lundestad, Dionisio Aguado, Agustin Barrios Mangore and Egberto Gismonti.

Christina Sandsengen's own introduction to the works on the CD cover is perhaps a bit over the top, 'The classical guitar is the key to my unconscious world of emotions, where I explore the contrasts and shades of live. If a piece moves and captures me while hearing it, I feel compelled to play it, as if I had some special bond to it even before seeing the score', but there is certainly an interesting mix of works on the disc with many that I had not come across before. And if the music does not quite have the shades, contrasts and extremes of emotions that we are led to expect, there are some real discoveries to be made and Christina Sandsengen is clearly a guitarist of talent.

I Fagiolini's Betrayal

Robert Hollingworth and I Fagiolini are back with another music theatre piece based around Renaissance and early Baroque music. Ten years ago the group, in collaboration with director John La Bouchardiere produced The Full Monteverdi a drama based around Monteverdi madrigals and performed with the singers sitting amongst the audience, to striking effect. For their new piece, Betrayal: A polyphonic crime drama John La Bouchardiere and the group are exploring the darkly grim world of the music of Gesualdo. Combining Gesualdo's madrigals and motets with the harrowing emotional conflicts which underpinned his life, they will be creating their own stories.

The new production is going to be a promenade one, and will be presented in non-typical venues. It premieres on 13 May 2015 at Village Underground (a former warehouse which is now a club and music venue) with further performances there on 14 and 15 May (tickets from the Barbican), but then moves on to Cambridge Junction (20-22 May) and a multi-story car-park in the Salisbury Festival (3-5 June 2015).

New music, chorus anniversary, Brahms and more - Scottish Chamber Orchestra new season

Lotta Wennäkoski

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra's 2015/16 season will be continuing the group's policy of performing new work, and both new commissions this season have a Nordic theme. Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski is writing new work to be performed as part of an all-Nordic programme conducted by Tuomas Hannikainen, with Nielsen’s Violin Concerto (soloist Pekka Kuusisto) and the UK premiere of the conductor’s own arrangement of Sibelius’ Maiden in the Tower Orchestral Suite. Icelandic composer Hafliđi Hallgrímsson's new piece will be sung by the Finnish soprano Helena Juntunen, conducted by John Storgårds in a programme which also includes RVW's Symphony No. 5. 

Other contemporary music in the season includes Kurtág’s Movement for Viola and Orchestra with the orchestra's principal viola Jane Atkins as soloist, Brett Dean’s Testament, and the Scottish Premiere of Jorg Widmann’s Ikarische Klage. Six Speechless Songs by Martin Suckling, the orchestra's Associate Composer, was commissioned by the orchestra in its 40th year and the piece returns in a programme conducted by Oliver Knussen which also includes Britten's Lachrymae, with Jane Atkins, and music by Henze and Mendelssohn.

In October 2015 the strings of the orchestra will be decamping to Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh to perform a programme of organ concertos. Conductor Alexandre Bloch and soloists David Briggs will be coupling the well known Poulenc concerto with the Organ Concerto by Kenneth Leighton who taught at Edinburgh University for many years.

The orchestra has also developed something of a tradition of performing Brahms, having performed the symphonies extensively with Sir Charles Mackerras (with whom they recorded them, see Amazon box to right), Joseph Swenson and Paavo Berglund. Now the orchestra's principal conductor Robin Ticciati will be performing all the symphonies, two overtures and the Deutsches Requiem (with Kate Royal and Matthias Goerne).

The SCO Chorus, which will be singing in the Deutsches Requiem, is celebrating its 25th anniversary and will be performing Handel's Theodora, with Richard Egarr and soloists including Stefanie True, Renata Pokupic, Iestyn Davies, Neal Davies and Samuel Boden, and Egarr will return to conduct the orchestra and chorus in Bach's Magnificat and Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony.

John Butt, of the Dunedin Consort, conducts an all Bach programme with music by JSB as well as his sons , including CPE Bach's Bassoon Concerto and a WF Bach sinfonia.

French conductor Emmanuel Krivine will take up his post as principal guest conductor and conducts a number of concerts during the season, including Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder with Karen Cargill and Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. Guest conductors returning this season include Olari Elts, John Storgårds and Joseph Swensen.

All this and a lot more besides at Glasgow City Halls, Edinburgh's Usher Hall, Aberdeen Music Hall, Ayr Town Hall, Perth Concert Hall, and St Andrews Younger Hall. Full details and further information from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra website.

Discovering new territories - Carolyn Sampson's Fleurs

Purcell, Schumann, Quilter, Britten, Gounod, Strauss, Schubert, Poulenc, Hahn, Debussy, Boulanger, Chabrier; Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton; BIS
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Apr 30 2015
Star rating: 4.5
Imaginative programming in Carolyn Sampson's first song recital disc

Rather remarkably, despite a career of some 20 years and with around 50 discs to her name, this new disc from BIS is Carolyn Sampson's first song recital disc. Entitled Fleurs, Carolyn Sampson and pianist Joseph Middleton have assembled a lovely programme of songs with a flower theme. We start with roses, with songs by Purcell, Schumann, Quilter, Britten, Gounod and Faure, then a bouquet of Richard Strauss's flower-maidens with Das Rosenband and Mädchenblumen, next 'When blooms speak' with songs by Schubert and Schumann, and finally 'Un bouquet Francais' made up of songs by Poulenc, Faure, Hahn, Debussy, Lili Boulanger and Chabrier.

Carolyn Sampson is best known for her performances of baroque music but she has something of a wider repertoire as she demonstrated in her recent performance of Britten's Les Illuminations at the Wigmore Hall (see my review) last year and we look forward to her concert there in July 2015 with the Heath Quartet performing Schoenberg's String quartet No. 2 and a new work by John Musto.

On this disc Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton are firmly in classic song recital repertoire. They open with Benjamin Britten's realisation of Henry Purcell's Sweeter than Roses. is opens with the voice almost unaccompanied and as the piano accompaniment develops it is intriguing to hear Britten's distinctive tang in the harmony, with Carolyn Sampson providing a beautifully ornamented vocal line.

This Other Eden live, Kitty Whately and Joseph Middleton in concert with Kevin Whately and Madelaine Newton

Kitty Whately
 credit Natalie J Watts & the Royal College of Music

This Other Eden - An Evening of Poetry and Song; Kitty Whately, Joseph Middleton, Kevin Whately, Madelaine Newton; Champs Hill Music Room
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 9 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Poetry, sung and spoken, in an evening celebrating Kitty Whately's debut recital disc

Mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist Joseph Middleton's disc This Other Eden is a combination of music and poetry recorded on the Champs Hill Records label with actors Kevin Whately and Madelaine Newton (see my review, and my interview with Kitty Whately), and the disc came out earlier this year. On Saturday 9 May 2015, Kitty Whately, Joseph Middleton, Kevin Whately and Madelaine Newton returned to the Champs Hill Music Room (where the disc was recorded) for a concert version of the disc An evening of poetry and song. We heard songs by Ireland, Warlock, Gurney, Howells, Stanford, RVW, Head, Arne, Korngold and Horowitz, piano music by Ireland and Britten, and readings from Shakespeare, Wallter de la Mare, John Clare, Wendell Berry, Thomas Hardy, Jackie Kay, Christina Rosetti, Edward Thomas, Lous Untermeyer and John Masefield.

Joseph Middleton

The music room at Champs Hill is a modern, purpose-built barn-like building on the estate of David and Mary Bowerman who run Champs Hill Records, set up very much to support young artists like Kitty Whately and Joseph Middleton.

Their programme was organised into thematic sections like the CD, but with some subtle variations. We started with This England, and moved on to Forests and Gardens, Fields and Meadows, Coasts and Seas, with Britain's Bard, The Words of William Shakespeare to complete the programme. This meant that Kitty Whately and Joseph Middleton were able to finish the evening with Joseph Horowitz's wonderful Lady Macbeth - A Scena.

It was billed as an evening of poetry and song, but could just as easily be called an evening of poetry, spoken and sung, because words and their meaning were very much at the heart of Kitty Whately's performances. Not only could we hear every word, but in all the songs there was a clear sense of her responding to the poetry. Always a very communicative singer, in a live event in a relatively intimate hall (seating 160) ,you always felt she was singing to us, narrating, confiding in an often intimate manner, but always very direct and involving.

The Rough with the Smooth

Chi-Chi Nwanoku,
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall tomorrow is a fascinating combination of ancient and modern as, nestling amongst the Telemann and Handel concertos and concerti grossi, is a new work by Stevie Wishart, Concerto a Double Entendre. Specially written for the orchestra, new concerto for double bass, takes advantage of the fact that players in a period instrument orchestra are generally able to improvise. 

Stevie Wishart comments that improvisation is 'at the heart of the Baroque tradition which has been rather lost today in classical music', she continued that she wanted players 'to make the music their own in the act of performance, and put this right at the centre of the work, thus shifting the balance the 'composer running the show'. Stevie Wishart's comments, in the orchestra's press release, also reveal an interesting dissatisfaction with the ethos of modern conservatoire training, 'In the UK, musicians are coming out of college without much ability to improvise. The emphasis seems to be more on skilful sight-reading and the ability to rehearse as fast and as cheaply as possible. However those trained on period instruments learn improvisation more as a matter of course, which is exciting to work with'.

The new Concerto a Double Entendre is a concerto for double bass, with soloist Chi-Chi Nwanoku who is Principal Double Bass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She and the other players of the orchestra are very much involved in the creation of the work, as Steve Wishart provides chord patterns and leaves it to the players to explore possibilities of how to perform it. The use of a solo double bass, an instrument rarely if ever used in that capacity in the baroque era, is intended to encourage the players and the audience to listen to the music with new ears.

Composer and hurdy-gurdy player, Stevie Wishart studied composition at York University with Trevor Wishart, and improvised and aleatoric music with John Cage. Her work covers a wide range of forms, she has edited and recorded the complete works of Hildegard of Bingen, composed for productions by Wayne Macgregor, and written a piece for the Proms performed by the BBC Singers and Sinfonye.

Steve Wishart's new work will be performed alongside Telemann's Overture Burlesque, and Concerto for violin in B flat major, plus Handel's Concert for harp and lute in B flat, Sonata a Cinque in B flat, BWV 288, and Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.1 in G. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will be directed from the violin by Kati Debretzeni,

Further information from the orchestra's website.

Wigmore Hall Late - English Concert and Tom Green Septet

Alison Balsom and the English Concert
photo Simon Jay Price

Handel, Purcell, Tom Green; Lucy Crowe, Tim Mead, Alison Balsam, English Concert, Trevor Pinnock; Wigmore Hall lates
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 8 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Blowing away post-election blues with a terrific evening of baroque trumpet music and jazz

The new season of Wigmore Hall Lates started last night (Friday, 8 May 2015) at the Wigmore Hall with performances from Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, with soprano Lucy Crowe, counter-tenor Tim Mead and trumpeter Alison Balsom in Sound the Trumpet, a programme of music for voice and trumpet by Handel and Purcell. Followed by jazz from the Tom Green Septet.

Tim Mead, Lucy Crowe & the English Concert
photo Simon Jay Price

Wigmore Hall Lates are very much evenings of two halves, so we had an hour of Purcell and Handel in the concert hall, with music from Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, Atalanta, Purcell's Fairy Queen, King Arthur, Come ye sons of art away and the Duke of Gloucester's Birthday Ode. Then afterwards, in the bar the jazz ensemble, the Tom Green Septet were in more relaxed mood.

Not that the concert from the English Concert was not relaxed, as Trevor Pinnock introduced all the items and even brought in a sly reference to the election (when he opened the lid of the blue harpsichord to reveal the contrasting red of the lid). The English Concert consisted of five strings (two violins, viola, cello and bass), plus two oboes and one bassoon, whilst Trevor Pinnock alternated between harpsichord and organ. They were joined by trumpeter Alison Balsom, who played the whole programme on a natural trumpet. This was so long that I hoped that she had good eyesight as her music stand was a very long distance away!

Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert
photo Simon Jay Price

They started with the opening aria, Eternal source of light divine from Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne which showed Handel at his most Purcellian, with counter-tenor Tim Mead duetting with Alison Balsom's trumpet, the pair producing some superb long lines and balancing very finely. A love work, superbly done. This was followed by the crisply grand overture to Handel's Atalanta with Alison Balsom's trumpet joining the ensemble,

Next we moved to Purcell, with the first of a number of chaconnes in the programme with Purcell's Chacony in G minor to which Trevor Pinnock and the ensemble brought a lovely swaying dance feel to the underlying rhythm. This was followed by Lucy Crowe singing The Plaint from The Fairy Queen. Lucy Crowe sang with a simple, plangent tone and great intensity of line, creating something beautiful and expressive, nicely matched by Alison Balsom who again showed superb skill in balancing the voice.

We then moved to an instrumental sequence from King Arthur with a very grand, but still danceable, Chaconne, a Symphony which was effectively a lovely duet for trumpet and violin, and then the chorus Come if you dare arranged as a sort of duel between trumpet and everyone else!