Members' Evenings 

 

 

 

2008

Carols

 

 


“That was so good it make me cry”, and “Now I know it’s Christmas” were just two of the comments heard as people left the Tilford Bach Society Carols by Candlelight on December 13th  at All Saints’ Parish Church in Tilford.

The theme was “Music at Christmas” and this year the music was performed by the London Handel Singers directed by Laurence Cummings. But what brought tears to the lady’s eyes in the afternoon was the brilliant contribution by the children of Waverley Abbey School who sang four songs with a Christmas theme and did it with such discipline and obvious enjoyment that is a tribute not only to their own talents but also to that of their conductor Hanna Good.

The professional choir obviously agreed because they spontaneously stopped singing to let the children sing the first three lines of  the chorus of O come all ye faithful on their own. Two of the readings included a violin interlude. Step forward Florence, aged about 9, who bowed her way through Devil amongst the tailors and Sir Roger de Coverley with great aplomb. She was accompanied by father Adrian who happens to be Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music. They say never act with children and animals and perhaps that applies to singing, so in the evening celebration we heard the professional choir in full voice.

The themed readings from Jay Warwick, Laurie Lee, Thomas Hardy John Masefield, Longfellow and of course Charles Dickens were researched by Rosemary Wisbey and they were matched musically by Laurence Cummings with carols by Richard Rodney Bennett, Peter Phillips, William Walton and other traditional arrangements. Maybe it was the children, maybe it was the flickering candles, maybe it was the music and prose, but it certainly felt like Christmas was here at last.

Pete Wisbey
13 December, 2008

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Piatti String Quartet

 

The Piatti String Quartet made a welcome first appearance at  The Tilford Bach Society in the Great Hall of Farnham Castle recently.  Their varied and challenging programme demonstrated why these young musicians have quickly earned themselves such a high reputation as they performed works ranging over three centuries.

Mozart’s Quartet in D K421 is a mature and highly subtle work with many chromatic passages.  The Trio section of the Minuet movement was a light interlude with pizzicato accompaniment to a delightful violin melody.

Britten’s String Quartet no.1 is full of startling dramatic contrasts, opening with a spellbinding shimmer of sound into which the cello drops pizzicato notes like pebbles in a pool.  This tranquillity is shattered by episodes of startling violence.  The final movement is a real tour de force with its skittering counterpoint deftly and breathtakingly managed by the ensemble.

The exuberant opening of Mendelssohn’s Quartet no.2 in A minor transported the audience to the high Romantic era, as did the lyrical Adagio with its impassioned middle section.  The declamatory, operatic style of the Presto provided the grand finale to a superb evening of music.

Rosemary Wisbey
05 December, 2008

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24th October – Rowena Calvert (Cello) & Alison Rhind (Piano)

 

A large audience enjoyed an excellent concert in the Great Hall of Farnham Castle. The Tilford Bach Society presented the duo of Rowena Calvert (Cello) and Alison Rhind (Piano) under the sponsorship of The Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

Farnham’s discerning and appreciative music-lovers gave an enthusiastic reception to a mix of exciting classical pieces that were performed with great éclat. Bach, Debussy, Beethoven and Rachmaninov featured, in that order, and the audience was treated to a good variety of styles and moods.

The Bach and Beethoven sonatas were predictably beautiful to hear and played with perfect attack, synchronisation and virtuosity. The Debussy sonata was a distinct change of pace and mood being impressionist in style, with some Indian influences to the tones – a short piece with many different themes and an excellent contrast that was a great delight.

The final piece was Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G Minor for Piano and Cello, Opus 19, a piece that has a final movement with a breathtaking climax, written by the composer for himself to play as the pianist, making full use of the enormous stretch of his large hands. This extremely demanding part was performed brilliantly by Alison Rhind.

Rowena Calvert has recently graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with a first class degree, receiving the outstanding score of 100% for her final recital. This can be added to a string of awards and prominent appearances that are accumulating rapidly. Her performance in Farnham earned her many fans who will be looking out for reports of her professional progress.

Alison Rhind is already a well-established pianist on the English and overseas circuit, with many radio and television appearances. She plays with Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti on a regular basis.

Ian Sargeant

25 October, 2008

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26th September – The Oboe Band

 

The oboes played at Farnham Castle in this Tilford Bach Society concert were very different from the black instruments bristling with metal keys with which we are all familiar.  These were reproductions of their 17th century ancestors, far simpler in construction but capable of a wide variety of effects and moods. 

 ‘War’ was represented by a Partita by Krieger, ‘Lustige Feldmusik’ or ‘Happy Field Music’, designed to accompany open-air displays of military prowess.  Purcell’s King Arthur is theatre music portraying the legendary monarch’s battle against the Saxons, interspersed with episodes of romance and enchantment, and culminating in the well-known melody, ‘Fairest Isle’.  Here the versatility of the contemporary oboe family was clearly exhibited; the sweetness of the oboes themselves in the lyrical movements, the rich, deep notes of the bassoon, and the strident tones of the tenor instrument, the ‘oboe de caccio’ favoured for hunting and battle.  This is a strange-looking instrument with a downward curve ending in a brass bell like a trumpet.

 ‘Peace’ included stately, refined music by the court composer Lully and ‘Musique a Table’ written by Johann Christoph Pez  to accompany every course of Louis XV’s sumptuous dinners, tantalizingly described by one of the musicians.  In a complete change of mood the programme ended with a beautiful arrangement of J. S. Bach’s Motet ‘Lobet den Herrn’, the intricate fugal texture displaying the individual voices of the instruments and the skill of their talented players.

Pete Wisbey
09 October, 2008

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11th July – Pegasus

 

It is nearly four years since an historic first encounter between Pegasus and TBS. The writer was not present for that concert but deeply regretted his absence when he heard from fellow members about the extraordinary quality of the visiting choir. Since then, Pegasus has sung for TBS for three major choral works and, now, for four members’ evenings.

Pegasus gets better, and better. The choir is now a mix of old and new faces, which is excellent news as it means the choir is not in the short life cycle that might have occurred when it started as a kind of choral alumni association of Robinson College, Cambridge. The membership has broadened.

The event this time was the popular summer concert, which starts early and includes a break for a full-blown supper, ideally consumed on the lawn of Farnham Castle overlooking the town. The weather put paid to the meal location, but the large audience was easily accommodated inside the castle. Pegasus also had supper, but worked really hard for it as a small choir circulated during the meal singing madrigals to the munching music lovers.

The concert programme was an exciting mix of madrigals and part songs, grouped into a variety of themes or composers. English, French, Canadian and Swiss composers were included in the main programme. The first group were all English starting with My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land by Elgar, a moving opening piece which was very well received and set a good tone. Four French songs from Ravel and Debussy were followed by two quite different settings of I Sing of a Maiden by Lennox Berkeley and Arnold Bax.

The second half of the concert was equally exciting – Vaughan Williams The Cloud Capped Towers was followed by Swiss composer Frank Martin’s Songs of Ariel. Andrew Hope is a member of Pegasus who composes music in a medieval style and the audience greatly enjoyed his piece Sovranna Ne Sembiante. The final items were two pieces by the Canadian composer Eric Whitacre. The compulsory encore was the extremely moving Tebe Poyem (We praise Thee) by Rachmaninov.

During this feast of both food and music, the audience heard solos from of a majority of the 26 choristers, in various pieces. This makes apparent what must be one of the choir’s most extraordinary features – they are excellent, strong voices, all with very good sense of musical pitch, but which also blend perfectly. They clearly listen to each other as they sing so that individual voices do not dominate. The credit for this probably goes in large part to their conductor Matthew Altham who is undoubtedly a very talented musician.

Come back soon, Pegasus!

Ian Sargeant
12 July, 2008

 

Postscript: Unfortunately, Pegasus did not progress into the finals of BBC’s Last Choir Standing, which may be due to the choice of song which did not suit this choir.

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25th May – The Brodowski Quartet

David Brodowski, Felix Tanner, Catrin Win Morgan and Vanessa Lucas Smith

 

The Tilford Bach Society enjoys a string quartet. The Brodowski Quartet captivated a large audience at Farnham Castle on 25 April with a rich musical programme. Haydn’s Quartet in C Major “The Bird” delighted everyone from its chirpy opening to its vigorous final movement.

The second piece was a major contrast in a work composed by the German composer Alfred Schnittke. The Quartet No. 3 is, like many of the composer’s works, a juxtaposing of the musical themes of other composers that are then developed in his own way. Musical motifs from Orlando Lassus in the 16th century were set against others by Beethoven and Shostakovich. The interplay of these themes was recognisable for the first movement, difficult to trace into the second movement but indecipherable when we reached the third and final movement. Not exactly baroque music, but many in the audience appreciated this massive contrast and enjoyed the piece with its unusual structure and very demanding score that was performed with great flair.

The final work was Mendelssohn’s Quartet in F minor and the audience was highly appreciative of a superb performance. The Brodowski Quartet are an excellent ensemble who are very accomplished young musicians. With only three years playing together, it is to be hoped they can continue to develop as they show great promise.

Ian Sargeant
26 April, 2008

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4th March – Tre Fontane

 

An entire evening of recorder music: ‘Won’t the audience find it a bit boring?’ one of the musicians asked anxiously, but nothing could have been further from the truth.  Ilona Veselovska, Isobel Clarke and Iva Lokajickova played eleven instruments between them, demonstrating the ways the instruments developed with the very varied music that was written for them from the medieval to the baroque period.

Medieval music from France, Italy and Spain was performed on the simple, straight instruments such as those played by angels on so many contemporary altarpieces.  These range from the bassoon-sized bass to the tiny sopranino and produce a sweet, mellow sound creating beautiful harmonies for the sacred works.  In the hands of such expert musicians as Tre Fontane they are also capable of lively and intricate effects as in the French Onque ne fut where they imitated birdsong, and the solo Salterelo, a jumping dance tune.

The Renaissance period was introduced by Edward Gibbons’s What strikes the Clocke? which incorporated an intriguing ticking effect, and the complex and fascinating Sit Fast, a fantasy by Christopher Tye. 

Switching to instruments more familiar in shape and with a clearer and more powerful timbre, the group played baroque music including a stunningly demanding solo fantasia by Telemann.  I would not have thought it possible to perform a fugue on a single recorder but this was accomplished with great panache by Isobel Clarke.  As a treat for the Tilford Bach Society Tre Fontane ended their programme with J S Bach’s organ prelude Herr Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend, specially arranged for the consort and sounding very like an 18th century portative organ.

Rosemay Wisbey
15 March, 2008

 

18th February – Paul Robinson & Annabel Thwaite

The Tilford Bach Society greatly enjoyed a recital by the tenor Paul Robinson, accompanied by pianist Annabel Thwaite. This was a concert with very contrasting parts – four song cycles by quite disparate composers.

The first half of the concert comprised the Liederkreis songs by Schumann and La Bonne Chanson by Fauré.  The themes of the poetry in each cycle were different, with the Schumann set being focused on sad contemplations of nature and love whilst the Fauré was based on the joy and optimism of love.  But it was only the words that indicated this as both works had a musical melancholy to them. The interpretation of the works was excellent and greatly appreciated.

Poetry Till Earth Outwears by Thomas Hardy set to music by the British composer Gerald Finzi opened the second half. This was also beautiful music beautifully performed, but again frequently with mournful strains.

The last set of songs contrasted totally with all the earlier pieces. Four amusing Noël Coward songs were delivered with great gusto and technical skill. The audience discovered that there is much pleasure to be derived from hearing witty popular songs sung by a trained singer who can combine professional technique with good dramatic finesse.

The audience absolutely demanded an encore and a deft performance of Mad Dogs and Englishmen was particularly well received.

Greatly enhancing the evening was the piano accompaniment by Annabel Thwaite whose brilliantly controlled playing complemented the singer perfectly.

Ian Sargeant
19 February, 2008

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25th January – Amaranthos

LtoR: Marta Gonçalves, Erik Dippenaar (Harpsichord), Elektra Miliadou,
 Claire Bracher, Sara Deborah Strunz

 

For the first Tilford Bach Society members’ evening of 2008 in the Great Hall of Farnham Castle, Ensemble Amaranthos presented a musical tale of two cities, London and Paris.  In the 18th century both capitals were seething with exciting musical life, attracting illustrious composers from all over Europe.

In a varied programme entitled ‘The Spell of the Metropoles’ the five musicians performed pieces by six of these composers, playing on period instruments and choosing works that enabled the audience to appreciate their distinctive qualities, both individually and as a group.

The opening work, Telemann’s ‘Paris’ Quartet in A minor, involved some playful badinage between flute and violin, delightfully played by Marta Gonçalves and Sara Deborah Strunz.  In contrast, Geminiani’s Sonata no.6, written in London, featured the deeper, sonorous tones of the viola da gamba and cello, played by Claire Bracher and Elektra Miliadou.  The quintessentially English style was represented by Purcell’s ‘Welcome to all the Pleasures’, expertly performed on the harpsichord by Erik Dippenaar.

Amaranthos ended their programme with another Telemann ‘Paris’ quartet which opened with a very French-style flourish and finished with a superbly executed lively gigue.

Rosemary Wisbey
26 January, 2008

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