PrettyInScarlett

Third night in a row, this time back in Skipton for the next Skipton Music concert. The November concert was a song evening, featuring Sarah Fox accompanied by Alexander Taylor.  Normally I am not a big fan of opera and not always of classical song; but season ticket = no excuse! However it was a very enjoyable evening. Sarah programmed songs by Schubert, Richard Strauss, Duparc, Canteloube, Britten and ended with a selection of Cole Porter and Gershwin songs. The songs by Henri Duparc were super and had great piano parts too; and the selection from Songs of the Auvergne by Joseph Canteloube were great fun.  A few days' rest for the ears before another Leeds University lunchtime concert. This time the performer was South African cellist Peter Martens , accompanied by Richard Casey. The standout piece from this concert was the Sonata for Cello and Piano (2010) by South African composer Peter Klatzow. Peter Martens introduced the work, explaining that Klatzow is one...

With Sara Watkins still playing through my mind, on Monday 14th November I headed to Wigmore Hall in London. A definite treat for me  - my first visit to this legendary venue for one of the Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts. Nice place! Though the balcony seating is rather snug. After October and the Sacconi Quartet, two string quartets in as many months courtesy of Cuarteto Quiroga . They were joined by pianist Javier Perianes for a programme of Granados and Brahms. All musicians of a very high calibre from the programme notes.  First up was Granados' Piano Quintet in G minor Op 49 . I enjoy playing some of Granados' solo piano pieces but had not heard this piece before. All very exciting! The Quintet is a relatively early piece and reaches beyond a 'Spanish' sound, in particular in the first movement 'allegro. The second movement was pure poetry  - piece and the performance by the 5 musicians. In a less-is-more vein, the movement has a simple melody and sparse...

If October was busy... something of a concert bonanza in November! The run started with Americana legend Sara Watkins playing The Live Room in Saltaire at the end of her UK tour. We saw Sara as part of the I'm With Her tour in Gateshead last year and have been much enjoying her current album Young In All The Wrong Ways . This album is quite a rocky/produced sound, so to hear the same songs from Sara alone with her instruments was a treat. It also meant that they lyrics stood out more. There were also older songs (including a few Nickel Creek tracks) and covers. This was also our first visit to The Live Room, which is an award winning live space within Caroline Social Club in Saltaire. It's a very intimate space (a bit reminiscent of Belgrave Music Hall back in 2013 when we saw Basia Bulat), chairs, tables and low lighting. The live events are very reasonably priced and there are some great acts coming! Sara had a local support, Serious Sam Barrett . Sam was very good...

With the change in seasons, my concert calendar has filled up again. Though with all my interests plus a day job writing time is somewhat elusive! My October highlights were the first event of Skipton Music 's season, plus David Braid at University of Leeds' International Concert Series. This year I have arranged for a Skipton Music season ticket. No excuses! The current season is a mix of chamber, song, instrumental and orchestral concerts. First up were Sacconi String Quartet with Robert Plane on clarinet. It is ages (so long I can't recall!) since I last heard a string quartet live, so it was a real pleasure to hear the Sacconi Quartet and their high quality timbres. Their first piece on the programme was Haydn's String Quartet Op. 76 No. 1; lively and humourous in particular with the 'gallop' in the final movement! Robert Plane joined the Sacconi Quartet for the rest of the evening. The second piece was a truly interesting Phantasy Quintet for B...

Piano galore day! After the July meeting of a new piano meetup group in Clitheroe (very good fun) and a tasty meal, M and I headed towards Westholme School for the final concert in this year's Ribble Valley International Piano Week. The Piano Week has been on my radar for a while... as has stellar pianist Steven Osborne . This year the two coincided nicely. Steven's recital to close the Piano Week for 2016 was a programme of Schubert, Debussy and Rachmaninov: Schubert – Moment Musical (D 780 No 2) Debussy – Images (series I), Children’s Corner, D’un Cahier d’esquisses, L’Isle joyeuse Rachmaninov – Études-Tableaux Op 33; Études-Tableaux Op 39 Nos 2 and 9 Throughout, Steven played with elegance and simple absorption in the music; his quiet concentration drew in the audience and it was soon very obvious why he is held in such high regard. The Schubert piece was fantastic and certainly got everyone's attention - at the end there was complete silence before the star...

Somehow I missed the information for Hausckha 's Leeds concert until a few weeks ago... hurriedly planned but a great end to a holiday week. I first came across Hauschka in the German language magazine PIANONews and from there discovered his album with violinist Hilary Hahn, Silfra . Prepared piano is an intriguing concept - Hauschka's website has a good explanation - so it was really something to see it done live. At the Howard Assembly Room , Hauschka came on after his two support artists. introduced himself and a bit about the evening, then proceeded to perform for 50 minutes solid. Just the stamina was impressive - but also the ebb and flow of the pieces. A camera mounted onto the end of the piano meant the audience could see the prepared elements - where they were, how they moved and when Hauschka changed or removed them. At the end of the 50 minutes they were all on the floor by the piano stool. The soundscape was really quite different to Silfra - in some ways similar ...

Do you uke? Yes? You'll come away inspired. No? ha - ditto anyway -  the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain come highly recommended. Not just a musical show but a real evening of entertainment. I was far too busy laughing for taking photos - whilst trying to follow the very intricate arrangements and playing styles. In between jokes, the 8-strong orchestra played a variety of old and new songs arranged very skillfully for their ensemble of ukuleles - from 'fridge magnet' tiny to a bass ukulele. Some of the set pieces are available on the Orchestra's YouTube page . Amongst classics such as Morricone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly were inspired takes on songs such as Get Lucky, Kiss and even Teenage Dirtbag. Party in the aisles of the Alhambra. In complete contrast, a midday break from touristing round Amsterdam led us to the Concertgebouw for a bite-sized free concert . Within the calm of the Kleine Zaal  - packed with a mix of locals and tourists - we...

This time it didn't rain! After a few years' gap we returned to Hebden Bridge for another sellout Piano Festival concert. I left it so late that we almost didn't get tickets for headliner Anna Tsybuleva! Understandably a sellout as Anna is the winner of the 2015 Leeds International Piano Competition. A pretty impressive biography listed on the festival website - and the concert programme was equally impressive: Beethoven - Fantasy Op. 77 ; Schubert -  'Der Wanderer' Fantasy in C, D.760 ; Brahms -  '7 Fantasies' Op.116 ; and Liszt -  Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 .  Described by Jonathan Biss as a little odd, the Fantasy Op. 77 is a multi-key, multi-meter, many-tempoed smorgasbord of writing, clearly showing Beethoven's genius as an improviser. Certainly parts of the Fantasy felt like a musical puppet show! Anna displayed the piece superbly (especially the quieter sections).  Suitably warmed, we headed for the intense dark/light of the '...

Two years on from her last visit, Basia Bulat returned to Leeds touring her new album Good Advice . On Record Store Day no less (16th April). Yet another good beer venue - this time she played Headrow House. Good Advice is a bigger sounding album, in many ways, than Tall Tall Shadow , so understandably Basia wanted to tour it with a band. The efficient option, as it transpired, was to have her support band as her backing band. The Weather Station (trio led by Tamara Lindeman) played a 30 minute set to a small and rather chilly audience (maybe Headrow House had forgotten the heating....). The Weather Station has a big-open-space instrumental sound (I definitely heard the soundscapes reminding me of looking at Ontario's landscape from the train); whilst Tamara seems to be a pretty respected songsmith, 30 minutes was too short a time to get into her lyrics. They were, however, much more engaging than the support from 2014. Basia and backing musicians played a shorter set t...

This year I finally made time to go to the It's All About Piano festival at the Institut Français in London. Now 4 years old, the festival seems to be ever stronger than when I attended in 2013 - and also more affordable: all my events were £5 per ticket. This year, the festival introduced a 'Come and Play' event for pianists of grade 6 or above - selected pianists to play, presented by Erica Worth of Pianist Magazine . I jumped at the challenge, applied, forgot all about it in the intervening few months, then received an invite! Very exciting - a second opportunity to play for a paying audience. I'd also bought tickets for concerts by Jonas Vitaud and Eliane Reyes .  Eliane Reyes in particular was amazing. Due to train times, I arrived at the 'Come and Play' event a little late but in time to hear half of Zala Kravos ' performance. Zala is 15, studies with Maria João Pires and is clearly a pro in the making. I heard her performances of Brahms...

Final concert of the season  - already! The Chamber Philharmonic Europe were in town to close the Skipton Music season with a varied programme - Nielsen, Borodin, Hummel, Schubert, Albinoni, Mozart. The group consisted of 8 performers (soloist Pawel Zuzanski also performed as first violin) plus trumpeter Kirill Gusarov.  An international bunch - at the end when the players were announced individually, the list of countries of origin included Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kazakhstan.... For me, the concert was quite mixed. Some pieces were excellent - very high quality performances; others less so. Kirill Gusarov was superb - both his solo, and the orchestra, in Hummel's Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra in E flat major , were really great; Kirill made the long phrases and trills of the trumpet sound so simple. Before that, a quartet from the Philharmonic performed Borodin's Nocturno from Quartett No. 2 in D major - a very well known piece but nonethe...

rock chamber... stage set for Red Priest In case you didn’t know… Red Priest are an early music group with a huge amount of style, virtuosity and ingenuity. Whilst I’d heard of the group, I didn’t know this until I saw them in Skipton, 9th February 2016. The group (Piers Adams, Angela East, Adam Summerhayes and David Wright) were in town to perform their show ‘Handel in the Wind’, based on their album of the same name. Whilst a good proportion of the performance was based around Suite from the Messiah (very cleverly arranged by cellist Angela East) – of the suite, I thought Siciliano Pedicuro the best – I actually preferred some of the other pieces. The final allegro from the Sonata in F major Op 2 No 4 was a real foot-tapping number.  I also enjoyed David Wright’s improvisation around Prelude in B flat for harpsichord , leading into Largo and Passacaglia in G minor – a lovely cello and violin spotlight, followed by a sprightly Passacaglia featuring the violin-as-drum;...

Many moons ago, we saw bright young things Kitty, Daisy & Lewis touring their debut album at Clwb Ifor Bach and were suitably impressed with their r'n'b/blues/swing/rock/you name it mix.  Moving forward 8 years and the recorded output of the band (definitely still bright and young!) has strengthened - I strongly recommend listening to latest album The Third - a lot more original writing and plenty of sass. The opportunity to hear them live again was a definite yes. Not to mention a good excuse for a weekend trip to Sheffield.  Dosed up on Remo's coffee and with a pit stop at The Devonshire Cat , we arrived at The Plug to see support band Kiziah and The Kings from Doncaster. We'd not researched the band before, but they are a pretty funky mix of soul/rock/reggae with a very confident manner; and a pretty good front singer with Kiziah. An enjoyable set - their sounds are available (and definitely worth a listen) at Bandcamp , Soundcloud etc.  Tan Tan an...

In between unpacking and seasonal preparation, I found time in December to join Skipton Ukulele Club   - great fun! Including joining in their Christmas charity gigs on 19th December. Piano practice became somewhat less enthused.... Whilst I don't do New Years Resolutions per se, I took the turning of a new year to revisit performing and practicing. On 2nd January, I attended the first Players for Pleasure group meeting of the year in central Leeds. Players for Pleasure is like a piano group but for all instruments. As well as piano, we heard pieces for flute, clarinet, alto sax, guitar, cello, tin whistle (as well as combinations/duets/quartets). Everyone was really friendly and I look forward to going again - maybe even bringing along my ukulele!! On Wednesday 6th January, I headed to London for the latest instalment of the Piano-Yoga Club. I have been using the Piano-Yoga exercise book for a few years now, but hadn't been to any events as yet. The Piano-Yoga Club...