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Painswick Music Society
Painswick Music Society is a registered UK charity No. 271069
On Saturday 11th May Painswick Music Society rounded off their 78th season of Spring concerts with a debut from the Meliora Collective.
Meliora Collective is a creative group of young graduate musicians providing an imaginative and enthusiastic approach to chamber music.
The ensemble consisted of five strings (two violins, viola, cello and double bass) with flute, oboe, horn, clarinet and bassoon providing a rich almost orchestral sound but allowing clarity with individual instruments shining through at appropriate moments.
An early composition of Gyorgi Ligeti (1949) opened the proceedings with his `Old Hungarian Ballroom Dances`. Immediately the rich sound from the ensemble filled the church with swirling melodies from early 19th century Hungary. These were far away from the Vienna of Johann Strauss and offered darker colours and an intriguing sound world of an era long past.
Ligeti was followed by French composer Jeanne Louise Farrenc and her Nonet op38. What a revelation this work provided with its fine structure and flowing melodies. Each instrument was given its highlight during the four movements whist the ensemble combined effortlessly to great effect.
After the two little known but enjoyable works, the concert ended with one of the great chamber works of the 19th century, Brahms Serenade No 1 op11. Meliora provided the almost orchestral strength that this work requires. The sound at times presaged the development of the First Symphony with their impressive string tone filling St Mary`s with wonderful Brahms colour. The individual wind instruments also played their full part in completing a memorable performance of the Serenade in the form for which it was originally written.
St Mary`s audience gave an enthusiastic reception to these wonderful young players who will certainly be welcome back to Painswick.
All Music lovers are invited to the Society`s AGM on Saturday 9th November at 7pm in St Mary`s Church rooms. A convivial evening of music and wine (no charge) will follow the AGM.
0n Saturday 20th April Voces 8 returned to a Sold-Out St Mary’s. The famous ‘a capella’ ensemble did not disappoint the audience of 300 who were treated to an extraordinarily varied programme.
Starting in the 16th Century with Orlando Gibbons’s famous anthem ‘O clap your hands, ‘the group moved effortlessly to the beginning of the 20th Century with the Rachmaminoff liturgical setting’ Bogoroditse Devo’and then segued effortlessly to contemporary USA with Jake Runestead’s beautiful ‘Let my Love be heard’.
Great favourites followed with Nat King Cole’s Straighten Up and Fly Right’ and Voces 8 fan Paul Simon’s ‘The Sound of Silence’.
A move back to 16th Century England with Thomas Tallis and then his Venetian contemporary Giovanni Croce. Between these two polyphonic masters was ‘Stardust ‘a lovely piece by Taylor Scott Davis, currently a composer of church and other music in Texas who works with Voces 8 composing and arranging.
Underlining the eclectic nature of the programme, Monteverdi was followed by folk music ‘Underneath the Stars’ from the album by Yorkshire folk singer Kate Rusby., Mumford & Son’s Timshel and a tribute to Van Gogh ‘Vincent’ by American rock/folk composer Don McLean.
Called back by the enthusiastic audience after ‘Come Fly With Me ‘ (to the Moon)’, Voces 8 closed with Tallis’s most loved ‘If you Love Me’ a fitting end to a memorable afternoon.
A celebration of English Music on Stanford’s centenary
On Saturday 13th April in St Mary’s an audience of 200 enjoyed an intelligently structured programme by the brilliant young violinist Hannah Roper. The five composers represented in the recital were all born within four years 1872-1876 and four of them were pupils of Charles Stanford at the Royal College of Music and the fifth was contemporary at the Royal Academy of Music.
The recital opened with an engaging set of four sketches by William Hurlston which were characteristic of the time and place at the dawn of the 20th century in England. Gustav Holst’s ‘Song of the Night’ followed, and showed the greater robustness sometimes associated with this famous composer. Later, his ‘Invocation’, arranged by Hannah from Holst’s Cello composition featured unusual colours and a shimmering calm.
Between the Holst pieces came, for this reviewer, a revelation. Ethel Barnes, co-founder of the Society of Women Musicians and later professor at The Royal Academy of Music was represented by the virtuoso’ Dance Characteristic’ and the beautiful’ Valse Caprice’. At times this might have been Elgar himself.
Vaughan Williams followed, with Hannah producing a glorious performance of ‘The Lark Ascending ‘, drawing its final pianissimo exquisitely up into the high beams of St Marys. The last piece on the programme was as revelatory as Ethel Barns; Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Violin Sonata op28’. The opening Allegro was a feast of virtuoso playing as the American style motifs appeared and re-appeared. The final Allegro movement brought the concert to a close with a flourish. However, the slow movement between these energising displays was the most enchanting music which also had the hint of Elgar in its beauty.
In response to the enthusiastic reception from the audience, Hannah then played a solo composition of her own. Appropriately the English dance of three British dances based on regional folk melodies. A fine piece based on a Black Country folk tune and played magnificently.
Charles Stanford’s influence was subtly present in all this beautiful music. Hannah’s excellent playing ably supported at the piano by Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral, Adrian Partington, paid tribute to these wonderful composers from the dawn of the 20th Century and to their great teacher.
Painswick Music Society opened their 78th season of concerts at St Mary’s on Saturday 16th March with a first PMS recital featuring a harp, delivered by the pre-eminent Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and the leading Irish violinist Aoife Ni Bhrian.
A 200 strong audience was soon immersed in the distinctive and beautiful sound world created by these two virtuosi. The classically familiar sound of a JS Bach violin partita was underpinned by warm bass notes of the harp which then enchanted the ear with its bell like clarity in the upper registers. However, this was not Bach as we know it. St Mary’s was taken on a journey of adaptation and development that provided an exciting opening to the concert.
The programme continued based on the duo’s award-winning collection of compositions “Double You”. The audience was treated to pieces founded in both Irish and Welsh folk music traditions but taken on a unique journey by the compositional skills of these two musicians who were clearly enjoying their music as much as the audience.
Irish and Welsh melodies (Galway Bay, Give Me Your Hand, The Ash Tree) were recognised but it was the distinctive rhythms of these folk traditions that gave the music its enervating character including the folk rhythms of Brittany and Canada.
Aoife delighted the audience with a description of her personal musical journey and then discussed and displayed her exquisite Norwegian fiddle decorated with mother of pearl and delicate ornamentation. 4 top strings and a further set below allow her to create the reverberated sound exhibited in several of the compositions. Catrin then explained the workings of her magnificent harp with its 47 strings and 7 pedals which create the chromaticism that gives the instrument its extraordinary range and tone.
A happy bond between audience and musicians continued to the final works. These exhibited the duo’s ability to improvise in the gypsy like pieces of enervating excitement and the weaving of melancholy with euphoria within the complex multi layered composition “Why”.
Called back by the thunderous applause, a final and lovely quiet song was delivered to close a memorable afternoon.
PAINSWICK MUSIC SOCIETY opened their 76th season of Saturday afternoon concerts on 26th March in St Mary`s Church with pianist Clare Hammond and the Carducci Quartet.
This season a focus of the Carducci is on female composers and appropriately the concert opened with the String Quartet of Fanny Mendelssohn. Written in 1834, it was at the time an almost unique composition for a female composer. Carducci brought out the flowing romanticism and fine melodies of this lovely work, demonstrating that Fanny`s talent matched that of her more famous brother. For the second half of the concert Clare Hammond joined the quartet to provide the pianistic underpinning of the great Schumann Eb major Quintet. Clare`s melodic lines of great clarity and feeling complemented a fine performance by the whole quintet, which was enthusiastically received by the packed audience.
However, the centrepiece of the concert proved to be the highlight. Carducci showed why they are acclaimed across the world and have won international prizes for their performances and recordings of the complete canon of Shostakovich Quartets. Painswick was treated to a performance of the 1964 Quartet No 9 which provided a masterclass in the interpretation of Shostakovich. Four players in complete harmony combining the intensity and attack this music requires, with the seemingly effortless changes of rhythm and mood within the structure played without a break. The control demonstrated in the final breathtaking finale brought a collective WOW moment to the audience at the conclusion of this great work. A performance to live long in the memory.
The bar has been set high for the forthcoming concerts in this 2022 season.
Jess Gillam on soprano saxophone and James Baillieu on piano brought the sunshine to Painswick on 9th April with a thrilling programme. They opened with the Oboe Sonata by Poulenc, justified by Jess as “if he had lived longer he would have written a sonata for sax”! The sonata is dedicated to the memory of Prokofiev and you can hear allusions such as his Romeo and Juliet theme within the piece. The third movement especially was an opportunity to hear the saxophone delivering soothing and mournful melodies and the audience was captivated. They moved on to Lumina, written for Jess by Ayanna Witter Johnson, a cellist who prefers to play her instrument whilst standing and who sings with a R&B/soul voice. In Lumina, she is using the sax as a voice and the last note in particular was incredibly soulful. The raucous The Unseen Way by Barbara Thompson followed. Barbara is a retired saxophonist, sadly unable to play any longer due to Parkinson’s disease, but who writes and listens to music every day. We then stepped back in time to hear Sonata in F minor by Telemann. Jess commented that he was prolific at writing for different instruments – this sonata was written for bassoon and recorder – but that the saxophone had not been invented yet!
Three unaccompanied works followed the interval: Early Morning Melody by Meredith Monk, Melody no.10 by Philip Glass and Dappled Light by Luke Howard. These were both meditative and jubilant with echoes of birdsong. Rant! by John Harle came next: it was pure joy and the highlight of the concert for me. This piece was written for Jess using dances originating near her birthplace of Ulverston in Cumberland including the Cumberland reel and Cumberland jig. Though just sax and piano, the sound was as full as an entire band. The music was raucous, soaring, searing, uplifting and the audience had broad smiles and tapping feet. The mood changed with Overnight by Chilly Gonzales; this was melancholy with echoes of Summertime by Gershwin. The pleading melody of Je ne t’aime pas by Kurt Weill followed. All too soon, we were invited to dance for the final work: Histoire du Tango movements 1-3 by Astor Piazzolla. James knocked the piano to imitate castanets and our feet were tapping once again. Tender lyricism was combined with frivolity in a sensational end to the concert.
Painswick Music Society’s third concert featured the highly acclaimed vocal ensemble Voces8. As part of their commitment to music education, the concert was preceded by an inspirational workshop for young singers at Wycliffe College. The group’s usual eclectic programme, conceived in lockdown, spanned half a millennium and celebrated regeneration, natural and spiritual.
Their dazzling singing, rapport with the audience and faultless blending and balance of their voices were evident throughout; in the clarity and exquisite part singing in William Byrd’s Laudibus in Sanctis, the haunting and shifting harmonies of Jonathan Dove’s Vertue, the textures in Jim Clement’s Timshel which merged folksong and classical choral tradition, and the extraordinary sound world of Benjamin Britten’s The Evening Primrose.
The shift of mood after the interval gave us some 20th century US jazz arrangements, sung with great energy and style, and the concert concluded with a series of encores, the final being Harold Arlen’s I’ve Got the World on a String. Voces8 have sung in Painswick three times now and each concert has been exceptional. Many thought that this was their best so far and, rest assured, they will be back!
It was a revelation and privilege to be at Iyad Sughayer’s piano recital on Saturday 14th May in St Mary’s, the last concert of Painswick Music Society’s 2022 season. Iyad, in his mid twenties, is clearly on the road to a stellar career. Born in Amman, he received his early musical education in Jordan, before studying at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. This was followed by a full scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music and a master’s degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, where he won the Gold Medal, the college’s most prestigious prize. His career has blossomed in the few years since concluding his studies: he arrived in Painswick following a recital in Brighton and left for a further recital in Berlin!
I had the pleasure of hearing Iyad in both his rehearsal and performance. On arrival, his comment on the piano following an extraordinarily deft and accomplished opening to a Schubert Impromptu was that he would like “to take this one home”. A compliment to the full size Steinway D grand piano provided for the concert by Taylor Pianos of Witney.
It was a carefully crafted programme which had the audience spellbound; in the first half we heard two classics from the piano repertoire – Haydn’s Piano Sonata No 38 and Three Impromptus by Schubert, these sandwiching a recently composed work, Levantina by the Somerset composer Helen Ottaway, commissioned for Iyad and relating to the region of his birth. It is adapted from a Palestinian folk song of resistance, when women would send coded messages on the wind to their imprisoned menfolk. Iyad played the Haydn and Schubert apparently effortlessly, despite the extraordinary complication of sections of the music, on occasion apparently magicking three simultaneous lines with his two young hands. By contrast Levantina was more quiet and reflective, thoughtfully combining a developing simple opening stanza with accompanying rhythms ‘of the wind’.
By contrast the second half paired two less well known and contrasting pieces; Sibelius’ Impromptus Op 5 in six linked movements and Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Carnival Jest from Vienna ). The first very much in that broad sound world created by Sibelius to evoke the Finnish countryside; the latter very much more boisterous with a final movement culminating in massive waves of notes with huge chords in both hands. It was a full length concert but over too soon. Iyad gave an encore of the simple and moving Andantino from his highly praised CD recording of piano works by Khachaturian.
After the concert Iyad was asked which of the pieces he had enjoyed performing the most, with no hesitation whatsoever he replied “the Schumann”. His effortless performance of this fiendishly difficult piece reaffirms his place as a rising star in the world of pianistic excellence.
We must express our thanks to our Chairman, Chris Swain, for this concert. His family’s lifelong friendship with the Ottaway family gave the link to Iyad Sughayer. We will watch Iyad’s career with interest and hope that it will not be too long before he returns to perform for us again.
Painswick Music Society opened their 77th season on 18th March with the return to Painswick of internationally renowned clarinettist Emma Johnson.
Emma, and her duo partner John Lenehan, opened the programme to a packed Saint Mary’s church with music by Gerald Finzi, who lived at Kingsmill in Painswick in 1922 and was later, in 1946, a founder of Painswick Music Society. His Five Bagatelles, completed in 1943, provided a beautiful and pastoral opening to the concert.
Brahms Sonata in F minor Op 120 is a weighty and glorious example of late romantic chamber music and the control of structure and development of this magisterial work was beautifully delivered.
The delightful Sonatina Op100 of Dvorak opened the second part of the concert and was played with tenderness and feeling for the complex themes of both American and Bohemian national inspirations.
Emma then displayed her talent as composer with a performance of her “Isolation Dance for clarinet and tapping feet”. A virtuoso clarinet display was accompanied by her tapping feet in the manner of an Irish wake. Brilliant and very difficult!
The concert ended with a change of style and the addition of Paul Clarvis, the renowned percussionist, to play a medley of Duke Ellington melodies. The trio brought smiles to the audience with their infectious enthusiasm. Fun and foot tapping but also moments of magic as in “Single Petal of a Rose” written by Ellington for the late Queen Elizabeth 2nd. As the concert ended, more than 200 appreciative music lovers called for an encore and were treated to more quiet magic, courtesy of Sidney Bechet, and then sent home to the rousing sound of Benny Goodman.
A wonderful start to the season!
Painswick Music Society continued its 2023 season with a very special concert by the tenor Mark Padmore and accompanist James Ballieu. Yet again a concert of the highest quality played to a rapt audience in the church on the afternoon of Saturday 1st April. Mark Padmore has long been known as “an exceptionally intelligent and cultivated singer, enjoying equal success in every area of his repertory. His particular hallmark is his sensitive approach to language, a quality that has allowed him to make a name for himself as a lieder recitalist.” Critics have described him as “singing beautifully, often gorgeously, his tone by turns purring and raw, luxuriant and drily ironic, sensuous and declamatory. Padmore turns Lieder into precisely coloured captures of emotion.” This was all very much to the fore at this performance. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queens’ Birthday Honours List and we were fortunate to be able to host him, sandwiched between his singing tours in Austria and Holland. The accompanist James Baillieu, described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘in a class of his own’, works with the country’s leading performers, and his partnership with Mark Padmore this afternoon was masterly.
The first half of the programme showcased a series of diverse Schubert Lieder under the title “Songs of the Seasons”, in which singer and pianist worked closely together in a sensitive rendering of German poems, captivating the audience with Padmore’s hallmark lyric singing voice, his responsive enjoyment of the German vowels and articulation of the consonants, all combined with subtle gestures to capture the changing moods of the songs.
The second half was rather different; 20th Century music by Rebecca Clarke and Benjamin Britten, which brought out very different and dramatic aspects in the musicians, with a more proclamatory heldentenor quality in Padmore’s voice, and piano accompaniments which wove in and around the song lines. I am sure that the songs of Rebecca Clarke were new to most of the audience. Padmore described her songs as “amongst the best in 20th century repertoire” and enjoying a revival. They certainly brought out a wide range of skills in both musicians, with dramatic changes of mood. We revelled in the unfolding of the (English) story lines, so clearly articulated and expressed in the singing.
We are fortunate that Britten, a pianist, composed so much music for his companion, Peter Pears, a tenor. The song cycle Winter Words is perhaps Britten’s most accomplished, with settings of poems by Thomas Hardy. The title is slightly misleading, as only one movement approaches the subject of winter – “At day-close in November”. Padmore felt that the title was chosen to invite comparisons with Schubert’s great cycle, Winterreise (“Winter journey”). Before embarking on the cycle, we were given some insight into Britten’s skill at weaving unexpected and yet related themes into the music, not least the slowing and reharmonising of the popular Victorian hymn tune “Mount Ephraim”, referred to in the poem “The Choirmaster’s burial”, as the underlay to the song itself, which seemed to have no relationship to the hymn, and yet both combined seamlessly. This song cycle felt designed for Mark Padmore and James Baillieu. Their skills shone in an extraordinary exposition to the delight of the audience. Rather nicely, the theme of the closing song of the cycle “Before life and after” linked back to themes in the Schubert “Songs of the seasons” in the first half of the concert.
The concert concluded with a special encore; the well loved ‘Down by the Sally Gardens’ in an enigmatic setting by Rebecca Clarke.
A wonderful season ended on Saturday with the vibrant and captivating ensemble La Serenissima who are the UK’s leading exponent of Italian Baroque music. The group was founded in 1994 by violinist Adrian Chandler. A Guardian journalist has written of his “avant-garde approach that would have awed Hendrix”. The programme, Crossing Borders, referred to the great interchange of music between Italy and Germany in the Baroque period. Vivaldi and Telemann were familiar, but new to nearly all of us, were Sieber, Schreyfogel and Brescianello, all inspired by Vivaldi. Adrian’s introductions were filled with historical knowledge based on his own discoveries, anecdote and humour. Telemann concertos started and ended the concert opening with a stately Moderato and ending with a dazzling and exhilarating duet played flawlessly by Katy Bircher (flute) and Tabea Debus (recorder). We were enthralled by this music, it’s energy, rhythm, nuances and melodies and the total commitment and musicality of the players.
Next year, our first concert features Catrin Finch, previously the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales, and Aoife NI Brian (fiddle) playing music with a folk theme. We look forward to welcoming again the renowned vocal ensemble Voces 8, followed by a local duo, Hannah Roper (violin) and Adrian Partington (piano) whose programme includes The Lark Ascending. The Meliora Collective -a flexible dectet (string quintet + wind quintet) -complete the line-up. As part of our educational outreach, there will be a youth violin masterclass and a choral workshop.
Thank you all very much for coming to our concerts and also for your generous donations and sponsorship. Along with all smaller music societies, we face the challenges of reduced audiences and increased costs, so please spread the word about our concerts and we look forward to seeing you next year.
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