DAVID CHIVERS AND MARY BLANCHARD

DAVID CHIVERS AND MARY BLANCHARD

lunchtime concert at the Cramphorn Theatre

29.11.2017

One of my resolutions for 2018 will be to go to more lunchtime concerts.

Jumping the gun here, for this very enjoyable selection of twentieth century music for clarinet and piano, part of the Environ Music series curated by Jeffery Wilson.

His Arioso was the encore in this programme, which had two suites by William Blezard at its heart.

The Suite Francaise included a soporific Berceuse, and a playful, punning Partie de Hocquet. Clarinettist David Chivers clearly shared the composer’s sense of humour, evidenced again in the Three Cabaret Pieces, ending with an exuberant Piece of Cake Walk.

Italian composer Alberto Tempestini’s Memories proved a charmingly lyrical piece, after the fashion of movie music, with some virtuoso passages for Mary Blanchard’s piano.

After Essex composer Alan Bullard’s laid-back Blues, the programme ended with the Concertino of Keith Amos, its three movements proudly labelled with English markings – Bright, Expressively, Rhythmically – an impressive piece of accessible chamber music, respecting Amos’s twin trinities: Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Composer, Performer, Audience.

A manifesto not always followed in the musical circles of the second half of last century, but very much in evidence in this generous serving of lunchtime entertainment.

SAXOLOGY

SAXOLOGY

lunchtime concert at Chelmsford Cathedral

27.02.15

Saxology have been championing the sax repertoire for decades now, arrangements, commissions, classics.
This springtime showcase featured pieces from across the range, from JS Bach's Art of Fugue to Benny Goodman's Flying Home.
The French repertoire was well represented: Clérisse's Sérénade Mélancolique, and, to finish Pierné's wonderful Introduction et Variations.
Homegrown work, too, with the world première, no less of Joy Ellis's Sailing in to Shanghai, and Jeffrey Wilson's charming Megan and Cei, written to celebrate the birth of two Saxology offspring, and introduced in the Cathedral by Megan herself, back home briefly from music college.
The playing throughout was impeccably styled, and sounded marvellous in the sunny acoustic.

THE FIDELIO SINGERS

THE FIDELIO SINGERS

lunchtime concert at Chelmsford Cathedral

22.02.12

The ladies of the "Fids", resplendent in a rainbow of gowns, brought "The Colours of My Life" to Chelmsford Cathedral last Friday lunchtime.

Their style is old-fashioned, perhaps, but their musicianship, under their founder/conductor Margaret Cozens, is exemplary. And the largely silver-haired regulars would certainly not object to echoes of Sing Something Simple, or even Grand Hotel.

The programme – a classic compilation for this choir – was cleverly conceived, with, thankfully, no introductions; it led us down the "rainbow highway" from Parry and Stanford to Rutter and Arlen. And Sting.

Among many delights, Wordsworth set by Eric Thiman, performed with superb diction, and a setting of Walter de la Mare's Silver, sung by Louise Colbear. The most impressive solo, perhaps, was a bouncy, bluesy Don't Make My Brown Eyes Blue, from Hilary Pell.

An Ivor Novello duet, an a capella Autumn Leaves, and a lovely Blue Skies and Rainbows sequence, ending in a wonderful setting of another De la Mare by the choir's regular arranger Neil Cleary. At the piano was Janet Walker.

WINDS AND KEYBOARDS

Lunchtime concerts at Chelmsford Cathedral and the Cramphorn Theatre

07.01.11

“Inversion” - flute/organ duo Ruth Stockdale and Robert Smith – started this year's Cathedral Lunchtime Series with a fascinating programme of duets, many in their own arrangements, such as the lovely Meditation by Harold “Bleak Midwinter” Darke, and the flamboyant Saint-Saens Fantaisie which ended the recital. I also very much enjoyed Weisgarber's Fantasia on a theme of Vaughan Williams.

Our schools are well represented in the Fridays up to Easter – Brentwood, Forest, Plume, as well as the Cathedral School – and there's a visit from the Chelmsford Male Voice Choir in March, too.

The Cramphorn Wednesday concerts are also back, with their host and impresario kicking things off with a session featuring his saxes and clarinet, and the piano of his sparring partner Peter Marshall. They eased us gently, and cheerfully, into the New Year with Jelly Roll Morton, and after some unexpected Haydn, medleys of Blues and Dixieland.

But the tune running through my head for the rest of the afternoon was I Wish I Knew, familiar as the theme for Barry Norman's Film Night, penned by jazz legend Billy Taylor, who died last month.

Many more reeds to follow over the next couple of months, including the Darkwood Clarinet Quartet, plus Amy Thompson's flute, and pianist John Human taking us from Bach to Basie.

CRAMPHORN LUNCHTIME CONCERT

Cramphorn Theatre

15.09.10

Wednesday lunchtimes at the Cramphorn have resumed for the autumn season, and recently we've seen Robert Brunsdon, all the way from Ipswich, on tenor and soprano sax, and Roger Montgomery on guitar.

His easy-on-the-ear set included a deep mellow sound for Witchcraft, and a classy take on Someday My Prince Will Come, with a woody tone from his vintage soprano instrument, which also featured in Bechet's evocative Petite Fleur.

A snappy Perdido, a smoky, sleepy Chelsea Bridge, and to finish, Charlie Parker's bebop classic Now's The Time.

Sympathetic, occasionally subversive piano from resident host Jeffery Wilson, who also supplied the links and the anecdotes.

Roger's programme was all-American, largely from south of the border, and mostly mid twentieth century. So we heard Jobim from Brazil, plus the lovely Carrilhoes by Rio street musician Pernambuco – its catchy simplicity captured to perfection the time and the place. Roger ended with virtuousic effects from the Wild West, and before that his own arrangement of Strayhorn's Lush Life, making it sound as if it were intended for the guitar all along ...

Coming up next week [13 October] D'Ukes, the splendidly named Ukulele band. As ever, 1pm in the Cramphorn Theatre.

Also back in business, the Chelmsford Cathedral Friday lunchtime concerts, every week at 12.30, with Crosswinds Brass, Darkwood Clarinets, Gaudeamus and the Forest School Big Band all to come before Christmas. 


of the dozens on YouTube, I've chosen this ...

NEW HALL SCHOOL LUNCHTIME CONCERT


in Chelmsford Cathedral


21.05.10


Taking time out from the examination room, sixth form students from New Hall School brought us an impressive variety of music in Chelmsford Cathedral.
The pinnacle was Beethoven's Pathétique, played by Crystle Ying; an impassioned, occasionally idiosyncratic performance of great character.
Two sopranos – Spanish student Serena Saenz Molinero had a warm, mature tone, with Pergolesi contrasted with Porgy and Bess – a rich, slow Summertime. And Kayleigh McEvoy impressive in Gluck and Fauré, a tender interpretation of Chanson d'Amour.
The concert began with a jaunty oboe piece by Dandrieu, played by Coralie Smart, who also gave us a Schumann Romance. She was accompanied, as were the singers, by Duncan Archard at the piano.
A real treat was Lara-Jayne Ellis's harp, with a showy French piece and a charming arrangement of the ever-popular folk song Water is Wide.


Friday lunchtime concerts in the Cathedral continue throughout June, then resume after the summer break on September 3.

TIM CAREY


Lunchtime Concert at the United Reform Church Maldon
08.04.10


Little more than 30 years separate Beethoven's Waldstein from Chopin's Winter Winds.
But as Tim Carey ably demonstrated, they are worlds apart musically.
He began his recital with the Beethoven: an eloquent, almost affectionate account of this monumental Sonata.
Chopin's anniversary year provided the excuse, as if one were needed, to play three of his best-known works, representing three markedly different styles.
After the A minor Etude, we heard the C# minor Polonaise, and to end, the first Balade, considered by Schumann to be the Pole's most “spirited and daring” music.


I know Tim Carey's work well, of course, but this was my first time in Maldon's URC, with its civilized architecture and its Boston grand.
And its CCTV, showing us the keyboard in close-up, a great asset to our appreciation of this superb recital.


Tim reminded us that next month he'll be bringing his Chelmsford Sinfonietta mini-Festival to the Cathedral. Flute and piano on the opening night, May 6, then Grace Francis at the piano on the Friday, with the orchestra playing Wagner, Reinecke and Beethoven on the Saturday to round it off.


Pick up a flier, or phone 01245 474709.

KATE WOOLF


Lunchtime concert at Chelmsford Cathedral


19.03.10






“I wouldn't trouble, not just for one singer ...”
Overheard on the Colchester bus last week.


Well, madam, you missed a gem. Not for the first time, Kate Woolf and her pianist Paul Bryan enraptured the Cathedral audience with an imaginative thematic programme, beautifully delivered.


This was their eightieth recital together, marking ten years of musical collaboration.


The theme this time was night and sleep. After Purcell's Evening Hymn, we heard substantial song settings from Delius, including the Lied-like Hidden Love, and the folksy Young Venevil.


Ivor Gurney's Sleep showed off Kate's pure, open tone to perfection, Fauré's Après un Rêve was gloriously phrased, and the sequence ended with Barber's setting of a James Agee poem, Sure on this shining night.


But my favourite was the Charm of Lullabies, written by Benjamin Britten in 1948. There is a dark undertow, here, and certainly Sephestia's Lullaby and A Charm both foreshadow his Turn of the Screw, with its ambivalent attitude towards innocence, written a few years later.


We demanded an encore, of course, and got a delightful Delius Ibsen setting – Now chimney tops and gables...




Sure on this shining night
Of star made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.
The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand'ring far
alone
Of shadows on the stars. 

CRAMPHORN LUNCHTIME CONCERT

Bill Bradley, guitar

09.09.09

We had no programmes, no enthusiastic intro. And Bill Bradley had forgotten his sheet music. But his love of the guitar, and his memory, guaranteed a delightful hour, the first of this season's Cramphorn lunchtimes.

He began with a John Williams arrangement of Bach's Third Cello Suite, with his familiar Bourrée. It was an intense but gentle performance, as he caressed the melodies from the strings.

Quieter still was the René Lacote guitar, 1820, Paris, inlaid with jet and ivory, which he used for a Bach Waltz.

Despite the beard and the cider bottle, Bradley is not a folk song collector, but his own English Suite [obviously influenced by J S Bach] incorporates many traditional nautical melodies: a skiff in a storm, a calm idyll, then rain and the sun setting over the island of Fand.

The set ended with jazz – a tribute to Ellington “who wrote music that for many people became the sound of love.”

The regular Wednesday sessions continue weekly into January, including return visits by Cramphorn favourites like Kay Usher, Saxology and Susie Self.