New season at Skipton Music: Ensemble 360 and Steven Osborne

Since starting to attend Skipton Music concerts the quality has been very high, but this season seems to have started off exceptionally well. The seasons' concerts are in Christ Church Skipton, as the Town Hall is being refurbished, and the ambience and acoustic are very good.

Catching up from 23rd October, adaptable chamber group Ensemble 360 showcased a contemporary piece by Jörg Widmann alongside its inspiration, Schubert's Octet in F, D803.

The Widmann, an Octet in five movements, was composed in 2004 and references Schubert rhythmically, and also with leanings towards the many hundred songs that Schubert wrote (third movement Lied ohne Worte). The first movement, Intrada, felt warmly off-kilter and Lied ohne Worte had a fantastic horn solo. However the piece was not that accessible to listen to. Whilst it certainly got the audience talking I'm not sure that may were big fans.

The Schubert Octet was more warmly received and I particularly enjoyed the second and third movements.

Fast forward to 20th November and Steven Osborne, whom I eagerly anticipated. M and I heard Steven perform in 2016 as part of Ribble Valley International Piano Week and enjoyed the performance.

This time, the programme was:

Poulenc       Three Novelettes
Debussy       Images Book 2
Prokofiev   Piano Sonata No.7
Schubert      Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat, D960

I particularly liked the Poulenc pieces - even more so than Debussy! The first two Novelettes are from 1927 and 1928, whilst the third is from 1959. Steven introduced them as evidence that Poulenc didn't care too much for fashion! The third one developed a very eerie, spooky ending.

Ending the first half with Prokofiev, this was very impressively played with a super 2nd movement - to me it sounded like stoicism in the face of disaster.

After the interval, we were treated to a fantastic rendition of Schubert's great last work - described by Steven as the calm release after the homages to Beethoven of Sonatas No. 19 and 20. Certainly, whilst Schubert seemed to be running the full extremes of emotion, there is a pervading sense of ending, of the finite.

The encore was Debussy's Canope from Preludes Book 2, a real treat.

After all this, I am looking forward to December!

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 .

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 .

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...

PrettyInScarlett

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