Skip to main content

Light, shade and sunshine - Chiaroscuro String Quartet and Gesualdo Six

Another new year, another hectic start! However I have found some time for concerts. The January edition of Skipton Music featured trailblazers Chiaroscuro String Quartet. The quartet perform with gut strings but that doesn't mean they're old fashioned! They generally perform standing up and certainly there is a lot of movement and vibrancy in their performances.

The programme was:
BEETHOVEN     String Quartet in D major Op.18, No. 3
MENDELSSOHN     String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 12
SCHUBERT     String Quartet No.14 in D minor, D810

I have a love/hate relationship with the Schubert 'Death and the Maiden' quartet (much like the Brahms piano quintet) and I have to say I wasn't expecting to enjoy it... but in fact this was the best performance of the evening.  

There's another review on the Skipton Music page here. 

Just as spring seems to be coming (judging by the bright blue sky outside my window), I have come back from a Leeds University School of Music lunchtime concert featuring the Gesualdo Six. I had clean forgotten who was performing and just about made it in time, for an hour of 'Fading': pure, clean, beautiful singing. Not normally my thing, but the Six are really superb and their programme of candlelight and compline - related music was a real freshener.

The programme - some of which I think is available on the group's website or Spotify - was: 

Thomas Tallis (c.1505 – 1585) – Te lucis ante terminum
William Byrd (c.1540 – 1623) – Aspice Domine
Jonathtan Harvey (1939 – 2012) – The Annunciation
Thomas Tallis – If ye love me
Gerda Blok-Wilson (b.1955) – O Little Rose, O Dark Rose
Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179) – O Ecclesia, occuli tui
Arvo Pärt (b.1935)- Morning Star
Owain Park (b.1993) – Phos hilaron
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963) – Seigneur, je vous en prie
Cheryl Frances-Hoad (b.1980) – The Promised Light of Life
Luca Marenzio (c.1553 – 1599) – Potrò viver io più se senza luce
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525 – 1594) – Io son ferito, ahi lasso
David Bednall (b.1979) – Put out into the deep
Josef Rheinberger (1839 – 1901) – Abendlied

I really really liked 'O Little Rose, O Dark Rose' - thought that was just fantastic lyrically and musically.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

From Black Rose to Buena Vista

Two very different but equally impressive live experiences this last weekend. First up, our long overdue homage to the late, great Phil Lynott as Limehouse Lizzy returned to the Point on Friday 2nd March. Certainly on form (and not just lead singer Wayne Ellis, mmmm!) After a late doors, the band came on for a 2 hour set. They started off with Jailbreak (with added pyro), the rest of the main set comprising known songs like Dancing In The Moonlight, Warrior, Emerald, Johnny the Fox, Are You Ready, Killer On The Loose, Cold Sweat, Do Anything You Want To, Out In The Fields, Cowboy Song, Rosalie, The Boys Are Back In Town plus at least 1 early track. The encore included 1 verse/1 chorus from Sarah, Black Rose, Whisky In The Jar and another track. Excellent atmosphere, the place was sold out. The boys are back at the Point in December. Next on to crowd pleasers of a very different sort. M and I managed to get tickets for the sold-out Buena Vista Social Club show at Wales Millennium Centr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Love, chaos and hope: Gabriela Montero and Scottish Ensemble in Kendal

After a sublime Friday lunchtime concert, Saturday (16th February) got even better. The day started with the February edition of Clitheroe Piano Group, and even more than normal we had an excellent afternoon's music. Quick smart up the M6 to Kendal and a quick meal courtesy of Farmhouse Kitchen (very nice) before we headed to Kendal Leisure Centre. Lakeland Sinfonia seem to have a good set of concerts this season - I tried to book for Jess Gillham in January but sold out - and the February concert, Gabriela Montero and Scottish Ensemble, was definitely a treat. There seem to be a lot of season ticket holders as quite a lot of the audience seemed to know each other; and with a few single ticket holders like us, the hall was pretty full!  Scottish Ensemble are a 12-piece string group, and a quick look at their website shows they are interested in anything strings! Gabriela Montero is renowned for her pianism, improvisations and compositions - certainly one of the draws f...
Post a Comment
Read more