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),...

After a few years of looking at music summer school listings, I took the plunge and tried a residential music course in Somerset. The provider, Jackdaws Music Educational Trust , runs one day and weekend courses for adult participants as well as educational projects in-house and in local schools. The course I decided to try was 'The Pianist Within' with Elena Riu, faculty professor at Trinity Laban and creator and collaborator of many genre-bending releases (to judge from her online bio available on her website ). There were 9 of us on the course and it was a very relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Indeed I met one fellow pianist at Frome station whilst waiting for a taxi! I had a B&B in Great Elm, a short walk from Jackdaws and the village was really nice. Music mixing in with birdsong, the river bubbling away, the odd horse and rider - very tranquil. We even had a day of summer on the Saturday! I also realised I knew one of the other pianists - it's a very small worl...

Finally.... we have been to an event at the Sage! A friend visiting Durham noticed that the exceptionally talented Sarah Jarosz , Sara Watkins and Aoife O'Donovan , aka I'm With Her, were playing Hall 2 on Friday, 24th April. Sold! We have one of Sarah Jarosz' albums and like her sound, but were less familiar with Watkins and O'Donovan. Right up near the ceiling, we could see down onto the stage and onto the wildly enthusiastic audience below. After a short support set (so-so, I have forgotten the guy's name but he notably played a few songs sat with his acoustic guitar held horizontal), the I'm With Her trio produced an outstanding set of around 90 minutes.  Mixing solo songs from each of their respective careers with traditional songs and instrumental interludes, they wove a super spell of folk/country/bluegrass/Americana tunes. I had lots of goosebumps!  Notable tracks: Sarah Jarosz - ' Run Away', 'Build Me Up From Bones' and ...

Once again far too busy to look anything up beforehand... so M and I headed to see Laura Moody on Friday completely fresh. Wow!  A very cosy audience at the Old Cinema Launderette were treated to Laura's super songs and very funky cello playing (slide cello, anyone!). Just happened to pick up a copy of the latest NARC magazine to find... an article about Laura Moody! She is one very original and talented musician, from contemporary music with Elysian Quartet and The Gogmagogs to Meredith Monk emsemble.  The songs we heard in her 1-hour set mixed genres, effects (vocal and instrumental), structures and funny stories (including tales of Stockhausen in a helicopter ) for a very memorable evening. Some of the most original music (no typical song structures here) I've heard since I first saw The PepTides ... Cello as harp, drum, ukulele, funky tunings - all here. George the cello is very versatile... Most of the songs were taken from current album Acrobats , with a...

Today M and I finally made a trip to Ushaw College , former seminary, now - what? Specifically, we went to hear Ushaw String Quartet perform, but it was also interesting to see the buildings. I knew that Durham Business School had been based there (they still are, in part); I knew that some students live there; but not much else. The core parts of the building are open to visitors on Saturdays from today, so we saw St Cuthbert's Chapel, lots of side chapels and some funky Richard III memorabilia (inner history geek says woop!). Richard, Duke of York's book of hours - amazingly small for such a minutely detailed book; copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'A History of Britain'; and the Westminster Vestment, last seen being worn by Cardinal Vincent Nichols in a requiem mass for Richard III . On entering St Cuthbert's Chapel, this is the view:   The Ushaw String Quartet were in St Cuthbert's Chapel performing the string quartet arrangement of Haydn's ...

From a friend in Ottawa Piano Group: Poco a Poco  ~ Betsy Sholl Yellow practice books with their stammer names, Buxtehude, Beethoven. And clumped notes, dense thickets, weeds stuck to a fence, fingers or vines – burr-tangle of stop-start, try harder, hack through, and always at the same place: blocked, as if somebody at a gate or just the gate said, “No. Not you.” Some stupid password: boy, blanket, battery, Bach. Stupid keys stupid fingers bang till the strings tremble, then toss the book. But the notes don't shake loose. Notes or birds, flashing past, out of reach, calling “So long, sucker.” Sucker with stuck mouth, stuck piano. Or girl making a splintery ruin. So much racket there's a stillness after. A bird calls. Not pretty, but it gets an answer. So, there's try again – like tiptoe then, finger by key, ear bent close, careful not to disturb, like words whisper-sung, slow, one at a time before a phrase comes, notes before music, one hand before two, till – poco a poc...

Old and new worlds mixed yesterday with Angela Hewitt 's recital for Darlington Piano Society . Having seen Angela 3 times (plus a rehearsal) in Ottawa it was good to hear her in a different environment. The room in the Dolphin Centre had been rearranged to fit more people (and there was hardly a spare seat), but no Fazioli - so another difference to previous recitals. A more diverse andience than normal, with a good few first listeners  - for Angela, if not for the DPS too! The programme, performed in memory of David Robson and after a brief introduction, was as follows: Bach – Partita no.5 in G Major, BWV 829 Beethoven – Sonata in E flat major, Op. 81a (Les Adieux) ------ Beethoven – Sonata in A flat major, Op. 110 Bach – Siciliano from the Flute Sonata in E flat major (arr. Wilhelm Kempff) Bach – Sheep may Safely Graze (arr. Mary Howe) Bach – Alle Menschen Müssen Sterben (arr. Angela Hewitt) Bach – Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue Having heard 3 concerts this season on...