PrettyInScarlett

My first trip to Auckland Castle this summer and the music matched the end of a sunny day. When I saw the listing for a harp quartet, I immediately made a note to go. I've previously seen and heard harp quartets in Ottawa (the Four Seasons Harp Quartet at Music and Beyond, if I recall correctly) and enjoyed the sound.  4 Girls 4 Harps are: Eleanor Turner, Harriet Adie, Keziah Thomas and Elizabeth Scorer. They celebrate their 15th anniversary this year. The organisers at Bishop Auckland Music Society had arranged for this concert to be in St Peter's Chapel rather than the Throne Room; the acoustics in the chapel supported the harps really well, creating a wash of sound. The concert tonight was a super-duper programme of new arrangements, new works and a few favourites. Whilst I enjoyed the favourites (arrangements by Harriet Adie of the 18th Variation from Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini - Rachmaninov - and Waltz 2 from Suite for Variety Orchestra - Shostakovich),...

The start of the summer season and Auckland Castle is open for visits, including the annual season of concerts organised and promoted by Bishop Auckland Music Society , the latest of which was held on Friday 16th May. A short drive along the scenic route took us to a very full Throne Room in the castle for a recital by rising star Alexandra Dariescu on piano. The programme, complete with short introductions from Alexandra, was themed around the development of the prelude through the ages. The first half of the concert started with the extremes of Bach and Shostakovich to set the tone: Bach's Prelude and Fugue in B minor (Well Tempered Clavier Book 2 No. 24) followed by a selection from Shostakovich's Preludes Op. 24 - I particularly enjoyed Nos 3 and 6 - 6 in particular a somewhat witty representation of a pub band. Subsequent to this the audience was treated to a wonderfully beautiful performance of Scarlatti's Sonata in F minor, K 466 - a soft sobbing lament; and a...