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...

Comments

Music, Poetry and Cake (Gateshead and Lanchester)

Piano at the ready! (by M) After a good few months prep, the concert Piano Music and Poetry (organised through the Gateshead Piano Workshop folks) came around pretty quickly. As one of the participants, I was excited and also a little nervous about the prospect of a Paying Audience. The work paid off, as all the performers were excellent! Well appreciated by the compact audience. The format was in relation to National Poetry Day which was on 2nd October. Each performer chose a poem either in direct or indirect relation to their piece. A summary of the programme: Alan - Liszt Consolation No 4 and Mozart Adagio in B minor Graeme - Chopin Nocturne Op. 62 No. 2 with 'Uncertainty' by Adam Mickiewicz me - Clara Schumann, andante con sentimento with 'Clara Wieck und Beethoven' by Franz Grillparzer Jim - R Schumann Kinderszenen 1 and 7 with 'My child, we were just children' by Heinrich Heine Ernie - Debussy Clair de lune with excerpt from 'Fêtes g...

Sounds of JUNOfest

Classical JUNOs performers Something of a musical melange weekend but an excellent set of events! Eschewing some of the bands and artists we knew, we chose less familiar sounds for our JUNOfest experience. First up was the Classical JUNOs in Concert event at the National Arts Centre , featuring both nominated performers and composers. The mix of contemporary music was brilliantly played by Christina Petrowska Quilico , Susan Hoeppner , Heather Schmidt and the New Orford String Quartet . Quilico amazed the almost 100-strong audience with her performance of Derek Charke's Sepia Fragments in a reduction for piano; I found this piece a really captivating mix of earthly and ethereal elements. Quilico's second performance was of Ann Southam's Glass Houses No. 5 , an hypnotic piece which sounded both fiendishly difficult to play but also very clean and unembellished. Susan Hoeppner's excellent performance of Eldin Burton's Sonatina for Flute and Piano got the po...

Hidden Witness

Moving house completed - for now - and we are back in the Vale of Evesham. The wonders of Facebook unearthed a live gig and St Richard's Hospice fundraiser by slow-burning band Hidden Witness so off we went for an evening out in Worcester. I honestly can't remember the last time either of us did that.... cue pleasant surprise at our venue for the evening, Keystones Cafe Bar . Quite open and spacious in terms of standing room, reasonably large stage and a bar ensconced in the remaining medieval walls - much more atmosphere than many other small bars... A busy few weeks meant I hadn't had time to check out Hidden Witness' SoundCloud page so I had fresh ears and no expectation. The support band, The Miffs , were ok, with a few engaging covers, but sadly (for my ears) nothing memorable. After a short break - in which the background music made me feel both young and old simultaneously - Dan, Chris, Neil and Dan took the stage for an interesting set. A few ...

PrettyInScarlett

Search This Blog