Through other eyes - Zender's re-imagining of Schubert's Winterreise at Spitalfields

Allan Clayton, the Aurora Orchestra and Nicholas Collon in 2013

Schubert/Zender Winterreise; Allan Clayton, Aurora Orchesta, Nicholas Collon; Spitalfields Winter Festival at St Leonard's Church
Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on Dec 8 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Powerful contemporary re-imagining of Winterreise

The Spitalfields Winter Festival gave us a chance to hear Hans Zender's orchestral version of Schubert's much explored and much re-worked song cycle, Winterreise, performed by tenor Allan Clayton with Nicholas Collon conducting the Aurora Orchestra at St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch on 8 December 2015.

The concert itself was prefaced by a conversation between the Aurora Orchestra's conductor Nicholas Collon and potter Edmund de Waal. They used de Waal's newly published The White Road: a pilgrimage of sorts as a hook for their discussion of obsession, aimlessness and the 'creative possibilities of getting lost' – what Walter Benjamin called Irrkunst. As far as Winterreise is concerned, the challenge for Collon, on a rare visit to the world of the song recital, is about pacing. Faced with 24 songs, some of which are very short, how to negotiate the spaces in between?

Zender's 1993 'reimagining' of Winterreise takes care of some of these sonic spaces by exploiting the physical space. His score includes stage directions for the instrumentalists to 'sleepwalk' through the audience. In this show we had them carrying lanterns and torches around the church; at one point Allan Clayton held a disco mirror ball that sent flashes around the space. In 'Die Krähe' (The Crow) the woodwinds play straight at the head of the cowering singer. Clayton himself (sleep)walks off the platform in 'Der Wegweiser' (The Signpost). We certainly had a three-dimensional performance – immersive, too, as the band walk off stage at the end and drop snowflakes from the balcony.

Electric Dawn - saxophone and electronics

Alastair Penman, Graham Fitkin, Jenni Watson, Daniel Harle, Geof Sheil, Marius Neset; Alastair Penman; Sospiro noir
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Dec 6 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Young saxophonist exploring the boundaries between acoustic and electronic

Electric Dawn is a new disc from the young saxophone player Alastair Penman in which he combines the possibilities of acoustic and electronic music. The works on the disc include Penman's own alongside music by Jenni Watson, Daniel Harle, Graham Fitkin, Geoff Sheil and Marius Neset. The disc was produced by the distinguished saxophone player John Harle, and Harle has evidently been a guiding influence throughout the whole process of developing the album.

Alastair Penman is a British saxophone player and clarinettist and he plays with the Borealis Saxophone Quartet (see my review of their recent disc). Penman obtained masters’ degrees in both Information and Computer Engineering (University of Cambridge) and Saxophone Performance (Royal Northern College of Music). This combination has given Alastair has a strong interest in the fusion of live saxophone performance with electronic effects, backings, and enhancements to create often previously undiscovered sound-worlds, something which has driven the creation of this disc.

In his introductory note on the disc, Penman talks about allowing the electronic effect and techniques to augment and extend the acoustic instruments, rather than overpower them. By and large he has been successful in that at times on the disc it is difficult to assess quite who is playing and where acoustic Penman breaks off and electronics start.

The disc is bookended by a pair of Penman's works, Supernova and Hypernova, in which his jazz-inspired rhapsodic saxophone soars over electronic atmospherics.

Christmas is coming: the St John's Smith Square Christmas festival starts today

You know when the run up to Christmas has really begun when the St John's Smith Square Christmas Festival starts. This year is the 30th festival and there are 14 events starting tonight (11 December 2015) with the Choir of King's College, London conducted by Joseph Fort in a programme which pairs Robert Carver's 19 part motet O bone Jesu with James MacMillan's modern response to it, plus music by Kenneth Leighton and Poulenc. 

Other events include Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars in Tallis's seven-part Missa Puer natus est nobis, Chapelle du Roi with music written during the marriage of Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain, and Solomon’s Knot with Christmas in Leipzig, plus the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Ex Cathedra, Ensemble Plus Ultra, the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, the National Youth Music Theatre,  Siglo de Oro, and The Choir of Merton College, Oxford. 

Messiah is an annual fixture, performed by Polyphony and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Katharine Watson, Iestyn Davies, Gwilym Bowen and Neal Davies conducted by Stephen Layton. And the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge perform Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Stephen Layton.

Full information from the St John's Smith Square website.

The Royal Swedish Opera: 200 years of history

King Gustav III’s Opera House in Stockholm, in 1880 | © okänt/WikiCommons

Opera has a history of over 200 years in Stockholm, with the Royal Swedish Opera’s historic Opera House being the site not only of opera performances, but also of masked balls and even the assassination of King Gustav III. In addition, just outside the city sits the sleeping beauty that is Drottningholm Palace Theatre – an 18th century theatrercomplete in every detail. The opera in Stockholm is therefore well worth a visit, both for the music and the rich history, and my article on The Culture Trip website explores further.

Read more>

Alchemy from the Meridian Arts Ensemble

Byrd, Gesualdo, Carissimi, Lassus, Corelli, Dufay, Gabrieli, Bach; Meridian Arts Ensemble; 8bells
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Dec 1 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Alchemy indeed in the transformation of renaissance and baroque music into music for modern brass ensemble

Glance at this disc from the Meridian Arts Ensemble and you might think that it was a straightforward disc of renaissance music played by brass ensemble, but listen to the first track and the presence of a vibraphone in the arrangement of the Gloria from William Byrd's Mass for Five Voices makes it clear that the disc is something slightly different. Entitled Alchemy, the Meridian Arts Ensemble presents music by Byrd, Gesualdo, Carissimi, Lassus, Corelli, Dufay, Gabrieli, and Bach in arrangements by Adam Unsworth, Raymond Stuart, Daniel Grabois, Dave Ballou, Jon Nelson, Elgar Howarth, on the 8bells label.

The Meridian Arts Ensemble on this disc consists of Jon Nelson and Tim Leopold (trumpet), Daniel Grabois (horn), Benjamin Herrington (trombone), Raymond Stuart (tuba) and John Ferrari (conductor/percussion), plus a number of guests Dave Ballou (trumpet), Faustino Diaz Mendez (trumpet/trombone), Gustavo Rosales Morales (trombone), and Adam Unsworth (horn). And in fact most of the arrangements are done by performers on the disc.

Despite the addition of the vibraphone, the opening Gloria by Byrd is a sensitive and interesting version, and it certainly showcases the finely intelligent playing of the performers. Each individual line is nicely characterful but the whole has a sensitive balance. They do not try to be something they are not, this is no pseudo historical disc but a modern re-creation done sensibly.

Rupert Brooke opera at historic Cambridge Theatre

The Festival Theatre in the 1920's
(now Cambridge Buddhist Centre)

You may not have heard of the Cambridge Buddhist Centre and might think that it is a slightly unusual venue for the first performance of a new opera about Rupert Brooke! But the centre is based in an old theatre, originally built in 1814 and with one of the oldest surviving curved cycloramas. The opera receiving its premiere there is Strange Ghost by David Earl. Written for 14 singers, and chamber orchestra, Strange Ghost has its origins in a song cycle setting Rupert Brooke poems, The Ungathered Blossom of Quiet, composed by David Earl while he was living in Grantchester. Grantchester was where Brooke himself lived while studying at Kings College, Cambridge, and the well-known poem he wrote in 1912, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, commemorates his love for both the house in which he lodged, and the area itself.  The opera (with a libretto by Juliet Jenkin) which has developed from the song cycle is designed to commemorate Brooke's centenary this year. The opera consists of ten key scenes from Brooke's life.

The work is directed by Dionysios Kyropoulos, a director and researcher with an academic interest in historical acting and baroque staging. The musical director is Dominic Peckham and baritone James Schouten plays Rupert Brooke.

The theatre which forms part of the Cambridge Buddhist Centre was built in 1814 and known as the Barnwell or Festival Theatre. The theatre's original two-tiered galleries survive, though the boxes they contained have been removed. The theatre was originally run by William Wilkins (father of the architect) and one of them (father or son) seems to have designed it. Not much evidently survives of the original stage machinery and the theatre spent a long period in the 19th century as a mission hall. There is an illuminating article on the Cambridge Buddhist Centre website.

Further information from the opera's website.

Ethel Smyth's Serenade - in print at last

Ethel Smyth's orchestral Serenade (which she wrote in 1890) is a work which Edward Greenfield commended in The Gramophone, referring to the memorability of the thematic material and Brahms-inspired writing which is more than distinctive enough to establish its own identity. Greenfield's reference comes in his review of Odaline Martinez's 1996 recording of the work on Chandos with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The problem with such works is that, no matter how recommendable they may be, getting hold of the orchestral material can be a problem for orchestra which might otherwise wish to schedule it.

Now help is at hand, Odaline de la Martinez's new edition of the work is now available through Lorelt and can be bought online at the Lorelt website. Lorelt (Lontano Records Ltd) was founded by Martinez in 1992 and promotes recordings of important repertoire neglected by major record labels. The three main areas covered were 20th and 21st Century Composers, Latin American Classical music and Women Composers of all periods. Now the remit has extended to printed music, and we are promised editions of other works.

I bumped into Odaline de la Martinez on Monday (at a Christmas drinks party!) and she was telling me that the availability of the music has already led to a number of performances all over the world, and we can hope for more.

This isn't the only Ethel Smyth that Martinez has in the pipeline, she has been recording Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate for Retrospect Opera so we have that too look forward to!

Stanford Choral Music from Winchester

Stanford choral music; Winchester College Chapel Choir, Jamal Sutton, Malcolm Archer; Convivium Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 24 2015
Star rating: 4.0
A fine selection of Stanford's highly varied sacred music

Stanford's sacred choral music has remained one of the staples of church, chapel and cathedral choirs everywhere. On this new disc from Convivium Records, Malcolm Archer (director of chapel music at Winchester College) directs the choir of Winchester College Chapel in a varied programme including the Benedictus and Te Deum from the Service in C, the Three Latin Motets, Op.38, and anthems For lo, I raise up, Op.145, Come, ye thankful people come, If ye then be risen with Christ and The Lord is my Shepherd. The organist is Jamal Sutton, assistant director of chapel music at Winchester College.

Born in Dublin in 1852, Stanford's initial musical education was at Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral. He received an organ scholarship to Queen's College, Cambridge in 1870 and moved to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1873 and revitalised the choir there. Throughout his life, Stanford returned to church music and one of the reasons why the music has remained so enduring is the outside influences he brought to it so that, for instance, his services are sometimes symphonic in their treatment.

The programme on this disc is quite varied mixing sacred songs and anthems, with music from the Service in C and Stanford's late Three Latin Motets. The programme mixes the various elements up so that the three Latin motets are scattered through the disc.

Winchester College Chapel Choir

We open with the Benedictus in C from Stanford's Service in C which was published in 1909 and represents one of most cohesive attempts to bring thematic and structural unity to the rather diverse mix of movements in the morning, evening and communion services. Immediately we can appreciate the fine, soft-grained tones of the young tenors and basses in the choir, combined with the bright toned trebles. They are all nicely flexible in Stanford's canticle. This is followed by Beati quorum via, a six-part motet from Three Latin Motets and very much choral favourite. Here is receives a finely shaped performance, with nicely fine-grained tone.

Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber is Philip Moore's adaptation of Stanford's song Golden Slumbers given a new text by Isaac Watts and here sung by the trebles with a confident solo by Angus Armstrong. The result has the gentle melodic appeal which characterises much of Stanford's work. The companion Te Deum in C comes next, and here Stanford needs all his skill to make the wordy text of the Te Deum fit a musically satisfying structure. The choir sings with robust, confident swagger and it is noticeable how much unison, or near unison, Stanford uses.

Hodie Christus Natus Est!

Priory Church of the Order of St John, Clerkenwell

On Thursday 10 December 2015 my choir, London Concord Singers, will be performing in the Priory Church of St. John in Clerkenwell, London EC1V 4JJ, a church which is on the site of the old Clerkenwell Priory and one of London's lovely, yet almost unknown spaces. The church is now part of the Museum of the Order of St. John.

Choir will be conducted by Robbie Jacobs, conductor of the choir Reverie, and the programme pairs Palestrina's double-choir Missa hodie Christus natus est with Francis Poulenc's Christmas motets, Morten Lauridsen's O magnum mysterium, Richard Rodney Bennett's Five Carols and seasonal music by Anton Bruckner, Scheidt, Sweelinck and Warlock.

The event will also be a rather poignant celebration as it is almost exactly a year since Malcolm Cottle, the founder of the choir, died suddenly just six days before the choir's Christmas 2014 concert.

Further information from ConcertDiary.com and tickets from EventBrite.

Shades Lengthen in Hackney

On Thursday 10 December 2015, violinist Benjamin Beilman and the London Contemporary Orchestra give the premiere of Edmund Finnis' Shades Lengthen at the Church of St John at Hackney. The work has been commissioned by the music education charity, London Music Masters and will also be performed in a private free pre-concert for the London Music Masters children and some local primary school children from the Hackney area, when children will also be performing a response to Finnis' Shades Lengthen which they have composed themselves in a series of workshops with the London Contemporary Orchestra. The evening concert is woven around Edmund Finnis' piece with a programme of Saariaho, Pärt, Cage and plainchant.

Using the venue, the Church of St John at Hackney, the concert takes the themes of stillness, dusk, Compline and the closing of the day. Performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra and choir, the programme begins and ends with plainchant, then cellist Oliver Coates performs Kaija Saariaho's Sept Papillons. Also in the programme is Arvo Pärt's Annum per annum and John Cage's In a Landscape. At the centre will be Edmund Finnis' Shades Lengthen, played by Benjamin Beilman who is London Music Masters Award Holder. Finnis is Composer in Association with the London Contemporary Orchestra and has written a number of pieces for them.

Further information and tickets from the London Contemporary Orchestra's website.

Bastard Assignments - Fresh and Clean at the Asylum

Bastard Assignments - Fresh and Clean - Asylum, Peckham

Fresh and Clean music by Edward Henderson, Josh Spear, Neele Hülcker, Andy Ingamells, Timothy Cape, Alex Nikiporenko; City Lit Community Choir, Edward Henderson, Josh Spear, Neele Hülcker, Andy Ingamells, Timothy Cape, Alice Purton, Zoé Saubat and Mariona de Lamo; Bastard Assignments at the Asylum
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Dec 06 2015
Music, theatre or what? An intriguing, absorbing and challenging evening of events organised by the contemporary music collective Bastard Assignments

Bastard Assignments is a composers collective in South London, run by Edward Henderson and Timothy Cape, both of whom trained at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where Bastard Assignments was formed in 2011. The group is run by a fluid collective of artists and they brought one of their current series of events Fresh and Clean, to Asylum in Peckham. The venue was built in the early 19th century as the chapel for the Licenced Victuallers’ Benevolent Institution Asylum, a group of almshouses in Peckham. The almshouses are now run by Southwark Council but the chapel was hit by an incendiary device in the war and is effectively a roofed ruin, being run as an arts venue.

Andy Ingamells -- Packaged Pleasure

There, on Sunday 6 December 2015, Bastard Assignments presented a series of works to an audience wrapped up against the cold, and free to wander round the chapel at will. The distressed nature of the environment formed an intriguing backdrop to the high-tech projections used in some of the works. The programme consisted of I Did and I Didn't by Edward Henderson performed by the City Lit Community Choir, Non Fiction written and performed by Josh Spear, ASMR for Contemporary Music Ensemble by Neele Hülcker performed by Josh Spear, Neele Hülcker, Edward Henderson and Timothy Cape, Packaged Pleasure written and performed by Andy Ingamells, NEED by Timothy Cape performed by Alice Purton, Zoé Saubat and Mariona de Lamo and Modus Triplex by Alex Nikiporenko performed by the same ensemble.

We started almost before we knew it, as the City Lit Community Choir was spread out amongst the audience and started singing at a discreet signal from Edward Henderson so that we experienced the music from all around us, without always being aware from whence it came, especially given that the lighting was low and dramatic. Henderson's piece consisted of a variety of semi-free sections, each cued by signal, so that the singers moved from quiet sustained notes, with small gradations of sound leading to a Beach Boys hit and then the performers speaking multiply and at random, then finally silence which of course led us to wonder whether this was the end. An intriguing essay in community and communal theatre.

BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales appoints Xian Zhang as Principal Guest Conductor

Xian Zhang - photo B. Ealovega

The Chinese conductor Xian Zhang has made history by being the first woman conductor to be appointed to a titled role with a BBC orchestra. Whilst Marin Alsop made history when she conducted the Last Night of the Proms in 2013, Xian Zhang's appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales makes history too, and it is perhaps surprising that it has taken so long for a woman to appointed in this role. The appointment takes place from September 2016 and lasts for three years. On 27 September 2016 Zhang conducts her inaugural concert as Principal Guest Conductor at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff, with a programme including Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4 and Barber’s Violin Concerto, with Chloë Hanslip as soloist. Further highlights of Zhang’s 2016-2017 season include a collaboration with Chinese composer Qigang Chen, and her tenure with BBC NOW promises to bring out her interest in contemporary Chinese composers.

Xian Zhang trained at Beijing’s Central Conservatory, earning both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees before moving to the United States in 1998. She conducted Puccini's La Boheme at English National Opera this season and in 2014 conducted Verdi's Nabucco with Welsh National Opera.

Songs of the Big Smoke

Gavin Robert, artistic director of Song in the City

On Tuesday 8 December 2015, Song in the City will be hosting Songs of the Big Smoke at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's Milton Court, as a fund raiser for Help Musicians UK. The evening will be a staging of London-themed songs taken from Song in the City's first Cd, Songs of the Big Smoke and the Cd will be available at the event. Song in the City's artistic director is pianist Gavin Roberts and he is joined by Jennifer Witton, soprano, Elizabeth Desbruslais, mezzo soprano, Nicholas Allen, tenor and Piran Legg, baritone with Dinah Stabb, creative director.

Song in the City presents song recitals in and around the Square Mile, but under Gavin Roberts' lively direction the group is more than your average classical venue, they programme concerts around inventive and often challenging themes and through the seemingly traditional genre of song, aim to revolutionise the relationship between classical musicians and their audiences.

Help Musicians UK is the leading UK charity for professional musicians of all genres, from starting out through to retirement.

Further information and tickets from Song in the City's Eventbrite page.

Deep End - The Swingles

Deep End; The Swingles (Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson, Sara Brimer, Clare Wheeler, Oliver Griffiths, Christopher Jay, Kevin Fox, Edward Randell); Swingle CD
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 20 2015
Star rating: 4.0
The latest Swingles and the earliest, in a disc which features the voice of founder Ward Swingle

The Swingles as a music entity has travelled a long way since Ward Swingle founded the Swingle Singers. In its early days his London-based version of the ensemble featured classically trained singers who went on to have varied careers (Catherine Bott is one such alumnus). The current style of the group  (Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson, Sara Brimer, Clare Wheeler, Oliver Griffiths, Christopher Jay, Kevin Fox, Edward Randell) is somewhat different to the original but fine music making, good training and classical background are still a feature. This disc, Deep End appeals partly because one of the tracks features the voice of founder Ward Swingle. It was always intended that he feature on the disc but his death before production meant that an existing recording of his voice was used and the disc becomes something of a memorial.

Swim is an attractive rather ambient feeling number by Swingle member Edward Randell, where airy, lyrical vocals are complimented by electronica. Narnia, co-written by three Swingles Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson, Sara Brimer, Oliver Griffiths, uses some rather African sounding rhythms to underpin what is essentially a catchy song in a rather attractively elaborate arrangement.

La cathedral engloutie is, not unnaturally based (loosely) on Debussy's prelude. It not only features spoken word by Ward Swingle but John Taylor on piano. It starts with Taylor's jazz piano, a long way from Debussy, and then the Swingles wordless version of the Debussy forms a backdrop to Ward Swingle talking of his musical background and influences. It sounds an indigestible mix but is in fact rather moving.

Cries of London - opening of Spitalfields Winter Festival

Fretwork - Asako Morikawa, Reiko Ichise,
Richard Tunnicliffe, Richard Boothby

Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Ravenscroft, Richard Dering, William Cobbold; Red Byrd, Fretwork; Spitalfields Winter Festival at St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch
Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on Dec 04 2015
Star rating: 3.5
Local connection? Opening concert a Spitalfields highlights the continuity of street cries, yet fails to fully engage

This year’s Spitalfields Winter Festival opened on 4 December 2015 with a concert at St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, celebrating the area’s rich local heritage. Viol consort Fretwork (Asako Morikawa, Emily Ashton, Sam Stadlen, Richard Tunnicliffe, Richard Boothby) and vocal ensemble Red Byrd (Cecilia Osmond, Harvey Brough, John Potter, James Newby, Richard Wistreich) put together a programme of Cries of London, featuring sixteenth-century street traders’ cries set to music by the leading composers of the day (as well as captured in countless paintings and prints over the centuries). 

John Potter & Richard Wistreich of Red Byrd

The concert programme consisted of Cries set by four composers: Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Ravenscroft, Richard Dering and William Cobbold - performed in flexible combinations of singers and viols. These were interleaved with three movements of Gibbons' In Nomine in five parts for viol consort and his Duo for two treble viols.

Spitalfields blogger The Gentle Author set the scene in a pre-concert talk, showing how the tradition endures to this day: the One Pound Fish Man of Upton Park is now a YouTube sensation and pop star in Pakistan; Jack Cohen of Tesco fame and Michael Marks (& Spencer) started off as market traders; Lionel Begleiter – later Bart – grew up in a flat on the corner of Brick Lane, and famously incorporated street cries into Oliver! Of course the tradition is also under threat from gentrification, but then it might be argued that the wealthy patrons of the higher-status poets and composers of the sixteenth century were already cynically exploiting this edgy, noisy urban culture for their own genteel – or even patronising – entertainment.

In case you missed it: November on Planet Hugill - Curious women, arsonists and a cafe-concert

Finnegan Downie Dear (piano) with Gareth Brynmore John (baritone) at Exeter College Chapel
at Oxford Lieder Festival 2015, photo credit Robert Piwko

Welcome to November on Planet Hugill, a month which included a remarkable group of unusual and rarely performed operas.

A Clutch of Unusual Operas

The first opera written for Paris, Luigi Rossi's Orpheus at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Wolf-Ferrari's Le donne curiose at the Guildhall School. Francesca Caccini's La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina at Brighton Early Music Festival. Handel's Tamerlano at the Barbican with Max Emanuel Cencic and Xavier Sabata. Simon Vosecek's Biedermann and the Arsonists from Independent Opera. Leoncavallo's Zaza with Ermonela Jaho from Opera Rara. Georg Friedrich Haas's Morgen und Abend at Covent Garden.

Festivals in Oxford, Brighton and London

I spent a day at the Oxford Lieder Festival, which you can read about in part one and part two of the article. At Brighton Early Music Festival, there was Convent, court & salon: three contrasting 17th century women, and Handel's Acis and Galatea. And London Song Festival visited La Serenissima.

Concerts in various places

Muhly premiere and Britten canticles at the Wigmore Hall

James Baillieu and Allan Clayton at the Wigmore Hall, photo Clive Barda

Purcell, Britten, Muhly, Adès, Barber; Iestyn Davies, Allan Clayton, James Baillieu; The Wigmore Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Dec 04 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Music for two voices and piano from Purcell to Britten and Nico Muhly

Friday 4 December 2015's recital at the Wigmore Hall was an interesting confluence of a number of the hall's series, notably the Song Recital Series, Contemporary Music Series, Introducing James Baillieu and Focus on Nico Muhly. The recital featured pianist James Baillieu accompanying counter-tenor Iestyn Davies and tenor Allan Clayton. The programme combined Purcell (in realisations/arrangements) by Britten, Tippett and Thomas Adès, with Britten's canticles My Beloved is Mine and Abraham and Isaac, Thomas Adès' The Lover in Winter and the world premiere of Nico Muhly's Lorne ys my liking, plus Samuel Barber's Three Songs, and folk song arrangements by Britten and Muhly. The whole sort of worked, partly thanks to the superb performances from the three performers. It was also fascinating from the standpoint of seeing how the influence of Purcell threaded his way through the music.

James Baillieu and Iestyn Davies at the Wigmore Hall, photo Clive Barda

We opened with three Purcell realisations performed by Iestyn Davies and James Baillieu, Music for a while arranged by Michael Tippett, Sweeter than roses  realised by Benjamin Britten and Full Fathom Five realised by Thomas Adès. In all three the vocal line seemed unchanged so were were able to appreciate the beauties of line and tone provided by Iestyn Davies, along with a superb attention to the words. Perhaps singing with piano he was able to sing rather fuller than he might to with harpsichord or lute, but the biggest difference of course was what was happening in the accompaniment. Tippett provided an arrangement which seemed pure Purcell with just hints of Tippett, whilst Britten's realisation was more interventionist with a greater sense of the 20th century composer's personality, and the realisation by Thomas Adès seemed hardly to be 17th century at all.

This group was followed by Allan Clayton and James Baillieu performing Britten's Canticle 1: My Beloved is Mine  with its strangely homoerotic quasi religious text. Britten's flowing accompaniment did bring out hints of Purcell, and some of the lyrical rapture and vocal flourishes seemed Purcell inspired as well. Allan Clayton sang with a lovely combination of beauty of tone, and a strong sense of line, both he and Baillieu gave performances which were full of vivid detail. And Clayton gave a real sense that the words truly meant something so that passages like 'he is my altar' were very striking and the ending was pure magic.

Expect fireworks - Rhinegold Live - Trio Elegiaco

Trio Elegiaco

The next Rhinegold LIVE is on Monday 7 December 2015 when, at the Conway Hall, you will get the chance to hear Trio Elegiaco in Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A minor. Trio Elegiaco consists of John Paul Ekins (piano), Hannah Dawson (violin), and Pierre Doumenge (cello), and whilst all are extremely exciting and experience performers their debut as a piano trio came at the Sacconi Festival in Folkestone earlier this year. At that debut they got a standing ovation, so expect fireworks. In fact the trio was formed specifically to play the Tchaikovsky trio in Folkestone, but such was the success that the Trio Elegiaco seems set to run.

The performance takes place at Conway Hall on 7 December 2015, at 7pm, with drinks from 6.15pm and the Tchaikovsky will be followed by a Q&A between Kimon Daltas, editor of Classical Music Magazine, and members of the group. Tickets are free, sign up at the Rhinegold LIVE website.

Beyond Nine Lessons and Carols, our survey of recent Christmas discs

Buying Christmas discs is always tricky. Do you really want endless variants of the same nine carols, or modern pop re-workings which lose the essential elements of the original music? This Christmas we look at five varied discs each of which has a different take on the Christmas theme. But each performing group does so in their own distinctive yet intelligent way. We move from The Swingles modern re-invention in Yule Songs, through Rupert Gough and the Choir of Royal Holloway's contemporary take on a traditional carol concert, to Nigel Short and Tenebrae's exploration of lesser known English arrangements seasoned with some Warlock and Bax in A Very English Christmas. Alternatively you might want Renaissance polyphony and there is Stile Antico's latest disc, the beautifully crafted A Wondrous Mystery: Renaissance Choral Music for Christmas centred on Clemens non Papa's Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis.  I have also slipped in a disc from last Christmas, the Marian Consort's Christmas with the Shepherds with Jean Mouton's Missa Quaeramus cum pastoribus.

The Swingles have produces Yule Songs, Volume II in which the vocal ensemble presents atmospheric new versions of popular standards and not so well known pieces. You can sample their approach with their version of the God bless ye merry gentlemen:



The disc ranges from these traditional reimaginings to recently created pieces, and along the way you get a striking version of John Dankworth's Blow, blow thou Winter wind. It is pure Swingles, but in a slightly Christmas mode and definitely worth investigating if you want something upbeat and imaginative.

Music literacy for all? Estonia shows the way as part of the Year of Music

26th Estonian Song Festival, 2014 - photo by Ivo Kruusamägi 

2015 has been the Year of Music in Estonia with major celebrations throughout the year. As a culmination of this the government has announced that for December access to the Meludia platform will be made available free of charge to every citizen and resident. Meludia is a Paris-based French music education company and their innovative new music learning system is gaining wider currency since the company's founding in 2012. The new agreement will mean that all 1.3 million inhabitants gain access to the music literacy programme.

Having attended a number of music events in Estonia, I have always been struck how the rate of music literacy was high and the number of major composers produced by the country is remarkably high considering the population is only 1.3 million. Music has always been important to the country's identity and during the 19th century the song festivals were such an important part of the development of a national identity. So much so that the song festival in Tallinn continued throughout the Soviet era and song was significant part of Estonia's move towards independence. In 1988 spontaneous mass singing at the Tallinn Song Festival grounds was a significant factor in the overthrow of the Soviet regime in the country.

But even so, the collaboration with Meludia is remarkable and I wished that I had the confidence that a British government might implement a similar move!

Meludia aims to teach people using sensations and emotions, rather then deluging them with jargon. If you are interested in learning more about Meludia, then do visit their website to get a free trial and there is a video on YouTube which explains things.