Skip to main content

Festive sounds in Durham

With the arrival of the annual Christmas Festival this past weekend, the city started to feel (even) more festive. Walking around the centre after visiting the seasonal food market, there were plenty of carols being performed by choirs, brass bands, big bands...at one point I heard 2 different carols simultaneously at each end of Silver Street!
 
Some of the hardier groups were still out playing when I returned later for one of the weekend's festive concerts (clearly organised to tie in with the Festival but who can go to different concerts at the same time?), A German Christmas by the Caritas Ensemble, raising money for Diabetes UK. The concert had a seasonal theme but avoiding the more popular end of the carol repertoire.
 
About 16 of us sat in the very intimate setting of St Chad's College Chapel for an evening of song and instrumental music for soprano, flute, cello and piano. A very peaceful atmosphere developed with the opening work, Schumann's 'Langsam' from Fünf Stücke im Volkston performed by Deborah Thorne and Emily Murray. They were afterwards joined by Clare Crinson on flute for Weber's Trio in G minor which includes a shepherd's lament. A wonderful piece (my favourite of the evening) with a touch of Viennese waltz in the scherzo - a little foretaste of New Year's Day...
 
The nearest the concert came to popular carols was a selection from Liszt's piano transcriptions Weinachtsbaum, including adeste fidelis; following Bach's Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten (very well performed but not really my thing) the concert closed with Reger's Maria Wiegenlied. Exiting St Chad's and a quiet Bailey heading back to the city centre, I'm sure I head a strain of Jingle Bells...

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Angela Hewitt Week, 14th-20th May 2012

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .
Post a Comment
Read more

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .
4 comments
Read more

Mini update

I have finally sorted out my site links to reflect some new/renewed interests and my current location. We have something of a National Arts Centre bonanza shortly: I had already booked to see Angela Hewitt on 16th Feb but found a good ticket offer on LivingSocial.com to see Radu Lupu this coming Wednesday, 26th. In addition to all that, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross (his recent book, Listen To This , is excellent, as well as his previous tome, The Rest Is Noise ) is giving a talk there on 13th February. This is all followed in March by a complete about turn to the Bronson Centre to see Finnish band Apocalyptica . They have been somewhere on my radar for a while but I was spurred on to book tickets after a bout of nostalgia. M and I were regular visitors to Wolverhampton UK to see various bands at Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall; a few months ago a mutual friend posted on that there Facebook thing about seeing said Apocalyptica at Wulfrun Hall. Nostalgia for the venue and renewed intere...
Post a Comment
Read more