Dudok String Quartet -Stamford Arts Centre

 Saturday 4th March 2023

A varied programme, superbly performed and beautifully presented by a string quartet from Amsterdam.

The programme began with Mozart’s String Quartet in F major, K590. 

Then Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet in D major, Op 11. The 2nd movement is well-known and wonderful.

After the interval, they played Shostakovich’s String Quartet No 5 in B flat major.

My musical education and knowledge is pretty basic, but I loved this concert.

Jacqui Dankworth and Charlie Wood

09 December 2016 at Stamford.

Jacqui Dankworth is the daughter of Cleo Laine and John Dankworth.  Charlie Wood is her American husband and a terrific pianist. A thoroughly accomplished pair, and a highly enjoyable evening. I think "Autumn in New York" has become one of my favourites.

Winter Cabaret by the Harborough Collective

Winter Cabaret

Wind, Sand and Stars
Saturday 5 November 2016 - 7.30pm
The Jubilee Hall, Congregational Church, High Street, Market Harborough, LE16 7JD

“I am entering the night. Sailing. Nothing left to me now but the stars….”
Antonine de Saint-Exupéry - poet, pilot, explorer of the air.

In a fascinating and beautiful weave of music and readings from Saint-Exupéry, the evening explores the pre-war world of the pioneer pilot, when to be a pilot was a thing of wonder: from the velvet minimalist chords of Satie to the brightly polished and exquisite whirring world of Ravel; from the exotic flavours of Debussy to the grit and pathos of Montmartre Chanson. Join The Harborough Collective for this entrancing cabaret-style concert complete with candlelit tables and a bar.
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David Le Page & Catherine Leech violins
Morgan Goff viola
Clare O'Connell cello
Elena Hull bass
Graham Padden narrator

Beautiful playing of a varied programme, and as a bonus the narrator's voice was clear and commanding.

The whole concert was a delight, and we especially liked the Satie, and the arrangements of Trenet's La Mer and Piaf's La Vie en Rose.

The Harborough Concerts

Music at Gretton Church

Chris Hills (piano and organ) and Frances Hynes (flute and Chinese flute)

A varied programme reflecting the theme of the flower festival, "All around the World". The music was played in a light bright church, full of the scent of flowers.

 

Roderick Williams in Stamford

In April 2014 . . . singing English songs . . . excellent.

Verlaine and Rimbaud set to music

Wigmore Hall, Feb 18th 2012.

mf

Craig Ogden - guitar - Gretton Village Hall

We first saw a concert by Craig Ogden in Uppingham, a couple of years ago, and were delighted to find him performing just down the road!   Varied, entertaining programme - from Albeniz to modern compositions by William Lovelady and Gary Ryan, from a piece in 11/8 time, by Serbian, Miroslav Tadic,  to an arrangement of Over the Rainbow, with Django Reinhardt's Nuages as an encore.

All interwoven with anecdotes, technical info about the guitar and how a guitarist keeps his fingernails in tip-top condition.

Brilliant.

Concert on TV - Gustavo Dudamel - Ana Maria Martinez - Waldbühne

• Chávez: Symphony No. 2 Sinfonía india
• De Falla: Siete canciones españolas
• Revueltas: Sensemayá
• Villa-Lobos: Bachianas brasileiras No. 5
• Ginastera: Estancia, Ballett Suite Op. 8a
• Márquez: Danzón No. 2

Great atmosphere all round. Very theatrical.  Magnificent 'amphitheatre'.

Don Giovanni - film from Glyndebourne

I hadn't realised how much humour this opera contains. Brilliant show, apart from one thing - it's a shame they had to break the atmosphere up with interviews at the beginning of the second half of the film - we went back, all ready and eager to be plunged into the story again - and lo! analysis and explanation . . . I thought these guys were supposed to know about dramatic tension.

Oh la la - Parisian music evening

At Gretton Village Hall, courtesy of Northants Touring Arts.
A selection of French and English songs - Piaf, Henri Salvador and others, plus some jazz. Instrumentalists - violin, guitar and double bass were excellent. Singer a bit too gimmicky, and not close enough to the originals for my taste, especially in Les Amants d'un Jour , La Vie en Rose.   Would have been good if she'd included Milord.

However, pleasant and entertaining evening, and very close at hand. CD is good.

A previous event of Estonian music was more exciting and involving - Ro:ToRo

Andrew Kennedy and poems

At Uppingham again. They really bring some high quality performers in here. Both the singer, Andrew Kennedy and his accompanist, Iain Burnside were outstanding. They bounded on the stage like over-enthusiastic puppies, but their music had nothing amateur about it.



I generally find baritones easier on the ear than tenors, but this one could convince me. The songs, from around 1900-1930 were varied, although I would have liked to see the words - I can never disentangle words from music when something is sung. AE Housman's poems with their contrast between lyrical pastoralism and the horror of war.

I'm still in the process of seeking some of the words out, and I shall need to find the songs too.