2008-2009 Season Reviews

Benjamin Frith
24 March 2009

Introduced in their programme as a "northern prodigy", the internationally renowned British pianist Benjamin Frith was the recitalist at the final concert of Skipton Music’s season on Tuesday last.

He opened the evening with three sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, a composer with whom he is particularly at home. It was a scintillating start, noteworthy for his outstanding staccato and digital dexterity, together with some beautifully eloquent and languorous passages in the slower movements. The composer might well have been surprised that his harpsichord works had undergone such a translation to a modern piano, but the audience was in no doubt as to the soloist's artistry.

Robert Schumann's Phantasie in C, Op.17, from 1838, a powerful, passionate work of the Romantic period, makes huge physical and emotional demands on the performer. Frith's interpretation showed his mastery of the composer's intentions, displaying virtually a full range of pianistic technique, with wonderfully contrasting dynamics and a notable use of some breath-taking, pregnant silences.

After this, one could have forgiven the pianist if he had chosen a less-demanding work for the second half of the recital. But no, Beethoven’s "Hammerklavier" Sonata in B flat major, Op. 106, is recognized as possibly the ultimate tour de force of the whole piano repertoire. It has been variously described as "terrifying", "of immense difficulty" and "exhaustingly long"! Undaunted and clearly relishing the challenge, the pianist attacked it with complete confidence. His consummate playing held the audience spell-bound throughout all four movements (and two encores) - a memorable and triumphant end to the season.

Douglas Riddiough

[This review also appeared in the Craven Herald & Pioneer on Friday 13 Feb 2009]

Marc Le Brocq & Andrew Smith
10 Feb 2009

Skipton Music welcomed two English musicians on Tuesday. Tenor Mark Le Brocq is a former choral scholar at Cambridge, student of the Royal Academy and the National Opera Studio and principal at English National Opera. As recital and oratorio soloist he has performed widely in Great Britain, Europe and the USA.

Pianist Andrew Smith, a music scholar at Eton, with a first-class degree from Kent and a post-graduate Diploma from the Royal Academy, has played as soloist throughout the UK and Ireland and worked extensively at Glyndebourne.

Their recital opened with an apparently unannounced piano solo until Mark appeared from the back of the hall inviting the audience to "Come All Ye Songsters" - one of three Purcell songs, performed with mastered attention to phrasing and dynamics. In the first of his helpful and amusing comments throughout their programme, he promised an evening of "succulent fecundity!" We were not disappointed.

Two Handel arias, delicately ornamented in "Where'er You Walk", Fauré's short song-cycle "Poème d'un Jour" and Tippet's "Boyhood's End", a challenge in interpretation and musicianship for soloist and accompanist alike, all showed proof of an outstanding partnership. Andrew also gave a delightful solo performance of Debussy's "Clair de Lune".

After the interval the programme ranged through Mozart's Idomeneo aria "Vedrommi Intorno", Lalo's love-lorn "Vainement ma Bien Aimeé" to Finzi's characteristically English song cycle "O Fair to See" with consummate singing and accompaniment. Ending with a group of folk songs, this was a recital to savour which the audience acknowledged generously.

Douglas Riddiough

[This review also appeared in the Craven Herald & Pioneer on Friday 13 Feb 2009]

Manchester Camerata & RNCM
13 Jan 2009

For Skipton Music's January concert on Tuesday, the Town Hall was full for what proved to be an outstanding musical experience. Marking the 350th anniversary of Henry Purcell's birth, the Manchester Camerata, under their permanent guest conductor Nicholas Kraemer, with soloists and chorus of the Royal Northern College of Music have developed an exciting partnership. Skipton was favoured with their first performance of a semi-staged production of Purcell's opera 'Dido and Aeneas'.

The classic overture sets the scene for the tragic and passionate love story, played out on this occasion in the limited space of the Town Hall stage, magically used to its full for soloists, chorus, dances by Furies, Dido's Women, Sailors and Witches and for even a group of the orchestra.

It was a joy to hear so many young voices clearly delighting in the occasion and in the opportunity to depict the varying and powerful emotions. Nicholas Kraemer's discreet 'thumbs up' to those in the wings at the end of the first act said it all! Invidious though it may be, special mention must be made of Carolina Krogius' interpretation of Dido and her remarkable clarity of tone and line. Fleur Bray sang Belinda's supportive role with admirable understanding and Philip Smith brought conviction to Aeneas' tragic dilemma. But clearly this was a team effort of distinction for orchestra, singers and choreographer alike, directed with panache from the harpsichord by Nicholas Kraemer. The audience enjoyed every minute of a gala-like occasion, responding with sustained applause and curtain calls.

As a foretaste in the first half of the concert the Camerata treated us to polished performances of three shorter Baroque works - Purcell's 'Fantasia' and 'In Nomine' and Handel's Concerto Grosso in G major.

Douglas Riddiough

[This review also appeared in the Craven Herald & Pioneer on Friday 16 Jan 2009]

Alison Balsom & Nicola Eimer
16 Dec 2008

In baroque times the trumpet was supreme - all that heroic jubilation in Bach cantatas and orchestral suites - so it could have been exhilarating to have heard Alison Balsom, one the most distinguished exponents of the virtuosic art of the baroque trumpet, demonstrate her artistry in this most noble music. Instead she played a wide variety of the trumpet's modern repertoire. Like its plebeian relation, the cornet, the trumpet has often explored music from other sources, such as popular Italian opera.

This performance opened in Russian style with Schchedin's tribute to the Spanish composer Albeniz. Two sonatas followed; one French (Jean Francaix) the other German (Paul Hindemith). Here it is appropriate to pay tribute to Nicola Eimer's splendid accompaniments, especially in the Hindemith Sonata, a tour de force not just for the trumpet but equally the piano. Jean Baptiste Arban, known to generations of brass band cornet players for his celebrated tutor book, composed a well-known fantasia on a theme from Bellini's "Norma". Goedicke's "Etude" was followed by Enesco's "Legende" (Enesco, by the way, was Menuhin's violin teacher). Falla's "Seven Popular Spanish Songs" are perhaps more familiar in their vocal context, but, like Gershwin's "Someone to watch over me" and "I got rhythm" proved to be just as infectiously stimulating for trumpet and piano.

These young artistes held the audience spell-bound by their exquisite artistry: absolutely flawless technical command enhanced by the most refined musicianship and impeccable good taste.

Arthur Butterworth MBE

[This review also appeared in the Craven Herald & Pioneer on Friday 19 Dec 2008]

Heath Quartet : 11 Nov 2008

An accident to the thumb of the Endellion Quartet's leader caused a sudden change to Skipton Music's planned programme. At less than half a day's notice, it proved possible to engage the Manchester-based Heath Quartet. First reserves perhaps, but Oliver Heath and Rebecca Eves (violins), Gary Pomeroy (viola) and Christopher Murray (cello) delighted Tuesday's audience in the Town Hall with some truly memorable musicianship.

Haydn's Quartet in D major (Op.76 No.5), a late work in his remarkable catalogue of 84 string quartets, is lively, delicately radiant and dance-like in turns, with a distinctly Hungarian flavour to the last movement. This was an excellent start, clearly enjoyed by performers and listeners alike.

Better known for his operas, Leos Janacek (1854-1928) was born in Moravia. His interest in Russian literature, particularly the tragic theme of a Tolstoy novella, apparently inspired his "Kreutzer" String Quartet. It is a demanding work with extreme contrasts. Violent outbursts in the highest registers subside into peaceful conclusion, but the overwhelming impression is of angst and powerful emotion. The Heath Quartet deserved their interval respite.

Schubert's late (and great) Quartet No.14 in D minor (Death and the Maiden) from1824 formed the second part of the evening, its opening movement once hailed as "dramatic as anything in his instrumental music". The whole work, the theme and variations in the second movement, the Scherzo syncopations and the breathless tarantella of the Finale, received an inspired interpretation which held the audience spellbound and deserved the ovation which brought the players back for three curtain calls.

Many thanks to Skipton Music and Bunty Leder in particular for the efforts made to find such an accomplished replacement for the stricken Endellion!

Douglas Riddiough

[This review also appeared in the Craven Herald & Pioneer on Friday 14 Nov 2008]