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Tynedale Music Festival

Thanks to a fortuitous perusal of Facebook the other week, I spotted the listing for Tynedale Music Festival via The British and International Federation of Festivals' feed. I'd not previously been to this style of competition/festival before; result =  fun first visit to Hexham albeit braving thick fog and grey skies. 

I only saw the afternoon session of the Tynedale Music Festival - Open Pianoforte Duet (P12) and Open Pianoforte Recital Class (P11). I hope their evening concert had a good turnout as the afternoon audience was rather select... but enthusiastic! 

First up the Piano Duet class, featuring music by Ravel - excerpts from Mother Goose; Bernstein's four-hands arragement of Overture to Candide; Arthur Benjamin's Jamaican Rumba and (I believe) an arrangement of Spohr's String Quartet in G minor (1st movement). A lot of unusual repertoire already and it was really interesting listening to the performances. The eventual winners (Ravel and Bernstein) were Lucy Brooks and Anne Kearney.

Moving on to the solo piano recital performers, between 5 performers the audience was treated to a good dose of Poulenc with some Shostakovich, Copland, Prokofiev and Dohnhanyi as well as more well-known repertoire from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. All the performers were excellent and it was interesting to see how the judge (Dorothy Howden) ranked the top 3 compared to my own preferences. The official result was: 
  • Annie Ball in 3rd place (Scherzo Humoristique from Copland; 3 Visions Fugitives from Prokofiev; and Rachmaninov Prelude in G minor Op 23 No 5); 
  • Anthony Satterthwaite in 2nd place (presto from Piano Suite - Poulenc and the first 3 movements from Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wien); 
  • Winner: Michael Biggins, playing Chopin's Ballade in G minor Op 23 and Dohnhanyi's Rhapsody in C, Op 11 No 3.   
I much preferred Annie Ball's performance; whilst Biggins was very capable, it felt a little anonymous. I also liked the performance from the first competitor, Bolin Dai, who looked to be the youngest on stage; whilst playing perhaps less difficult repertoire she was very engaging emotionally.

A fun afternoon's listening! First visit ticks also to Hexham Tans vegetarian cafe for an excellent lunch and Deli at Number 4 for a post-festival cake boost. Hopefully my next visit to Hexham will involve some sunshine...
 
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