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15th November 2009 The Friends of the Sinfonietta had their first "outing" last Thursday -- a trip to a concert by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Kathryn Stott (piano). The coach left Birchley Street at half past six (more or less!) and returned very smoothly at about 10.15. This is the way to visit the Philharmonic Hall if you don't want worries with traffic, parking or inconvenient trains! The programme, conducted with aristocratic poise by Libor Pesek, consisted mainly of music written by born entertainers simply to entertain: Gershwin's riotous Cuban Overture and bluesy Piano Concerto, and the witty ballet Les Biches by Poulenc. Debussy's Nocturnes were perhaps more lofty in intention, but fitted in very well. Another -- unusual and interesting -- outing is being arranged, as you will know if you are a Friend and will find out if you join. Thanks are due to Colin Horlick, chairman of the Sinfonietta Committee and also of the Friends, who is doing all the organising more or less single-handed. Volunteers for the Friends' embryonic Committee will be more than welcome. 16th October 2009 Good
news! The Arts Council has come through with a grant to finance
our major project for 2010, a "Festival of British Music"
to comprise two orchestral concerts in St. Helens Town Hall
and two evening recitals at the U.R.C. A FEAST OF SKILL AND BEAUTY A true master of his instrument, Scott Bradley delivered a coruscating classical guitar recital on Saturday evening (10th October). Ten flying fingers on six hardworking strings produced at times more notes to the second than you would have thought physically possible, and in the quieter moments the time-honoured instrument uttered the tender, throbbing romantic sounds for which it is equally famous. A list of items might serve no purpose, as most of the composers' names are unknown to the mainstream music-lover. Great guitar music is mostly written by guitarists whose fingers know all the intricacies; other composers have to chart and analyse every musical phrase for playability, and even then are guessing. The only big-name composer of the evening, Villa-Lobos, was the one who could be seen to be playing safe with textures and techniques he could be sure would work. The
composers covered an impressive range of nationalities, though, and an equal
variety of styles; there was no danger
of enjoyment being dulled by sameness.
Scott Bradley talked to us while tuning and re-tuning, amusingly and
with all the facts we needed, and then played like a fiery angel, as untired in
the spectacular final Hungarian Fantasy (by J. K. Mertz) as in the
lively classical dances by Praetorius that opened the programme. In between we were on a roller-coaster ride
(or perhaps It was sad that the evening could not be shared, as originally planned, with Scott's brother Craig, an equal virtuoso on an even more exotic instrument, the bayan button accordion, whose weight may be at the root of Craig's present orthopaedic problems. We wish him all good fortune with forthcoming surgery, and hope that we shall yet enjoy that joint recital in the future. With luck it won't be in competition with a Challenge Cup Final, and will attract the capacity audience it will deserve. 15th September 2009 Go to Music-Net for a full review of the magnificent Sinfonietta concert on 12th September (The French Connection), sponsored by the Rainford Trust (click here). The concert was followed by a launch event for Friends of the St. Helens Sinfonietta (see below). Judging by the response of the audience on that evening, it seems likely to be a success. 29th August 2009 FRIENDS OF THE ST. HELENS SINFONIETTA In these financially difficult times, the support of our loyal followers is ever more necessary and appreciated. If you are on any of our mailing lists you chould have received information about the proposed new organisation called Friends of the St. Helens Sinfonietta, which we hope will not only bind us more firmly together with additional social events etc., but also help to raise funds. In case you haven't seen the two documents issued by our Chairman Colin Horlick, they can now be seen and printed out from this site. Friends of the St. Helens Sinfonietta
enrolment form and information -- click
here . We had another splendid Lunchtime Recital on Wednesday 26th August. Cathie Bunting ('cello) and Stehanie Howard (piano) played works including one of Beethoven's fine 'cello sonatas and a Chopin piece which gave the pianist the opportunity for a dazzling display of virtuosity. 18th July 2009 Last year's Lunchtime Recital by a jazz group led by Sinfonietta violinists Don May and Tom Sykes was the precursor of an Evening of Jazz at the U.R.C. on 8th July. Many more of our "regulars" were able to attend this, and it had the added attraction of Kim and Danny Wellens (well remembered from a past Young Musicians' evening) to offer their contrasting approach to the jazz idiom. See Music-Net for a detailed review (click here). 25th June 2009 THE MAGIC OF OLD VIENNA, Saturday 20th June: The very hard-working orchestra and conductor, the tireless back-room members of the organisation, the packed audience, and above all a magnificent soloist, all deserve heartfelt thanks for a "Viennese Evening" that will be long remembered. Click here to read a full review on Music-Net. 15th June 2009 I spent an interesting -- and quite taxing -- Friday morning listening to David Forshaw's IMPROVISATION MARATHON from beginning (9 o'clock) to end (noon). Taxing, because being a bit of an old improviser myself, I tried to follow really closely by ear what he was doing, and had to cling on for dear life. Alan was there too, and seemed equally transfixed. Happily a few others drifted in and (some of them) out. It was an amazing performance, full of unexpected ideas and deep subtle harmonies. A few well-known old melodies surfaced -- I only have eyes for you and All the things You are and The girl from Ipanema and Summertime -- but they were so richly dressed in Forshavian variations that they fully qualified as improvisation. But the last hour and a half or more was pure Forshaw. If you have any sponsor money please send it to the Secretary, Gavin Wallace, 61 Clarkes Crescent, WA10 5EA. If you haven't any, how about sending some anyway? The feat HAS been accomplished. 27th May 2009 I've just come from our first Lunchtime Recital of 2009 -- an enjoyable follow-up to their 2007 performance by Bruce Hebblewhite and Cliff Jones (horns) and Denise Burrows (piano). We heard some rousing horn duets, some lovely lyrical playing (especially by Bruce in a big Larghetto by Chabrier, and Cliff in Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream Nocturne), some more sensitively-played Debussy from Denise at the piano, and a performance by Cliff on a piece of plastic piping. The recital was well attended, and long may this continue. See Music-Net (click here) . 3rd May 2009 Our wind group, HarmonieMusik, gave the latest of their successful series of concerts yesterday at the U.R.C. -- a very interesting and enjoyable programme highlighting the possibility of various smaller instrumental combinations within the main group of nine players. A full review by "JC" is on the Music-Net web site -- click here . he U.R.C. looks splendid with a beautifully refurbished entrance and foyer. A gleaming LIFT has sprung up -- miraculously without apparently depriving any other facility of useful space. What a remarkable building the U.R.C. is !
1st March 2009 St. Thomas's Church, Westfield Street, is a place of fond memories for Alan Free and Sinfonietta veterans -- the scene of the very first concert by a tiny string orchestra in 1997. But when we got there, what a transformation ! Gone the long nave and the parallel ranks of pews. A beautiful, brightly lit and informally laid-out "Worship Space" has been created in the front half of the church, while a "building within a building" in the other half provides generous foyer and retiring-room facilities. The acoustics are still a bit churchy, but good with an audience present, which fortunately there was on the evening of 28th February -- not one of our largest, but large enough to occupy pretty fully the church's now rather modest seating provision. The string orchestra was nearly twice as big as the one that made history, and I would be able to say that it gave a programme enticingly far from the beaten track, if it wasn't for the fact that the Sinfonietta, not lacking in pioneering spirit, had played all but one of the works before. But together they made a great programme. The highlight, and the one new to us all, was certainly the oldest work on display, Vivaldi's superb Concerto for Two 'Cellos of 1711. This seldom-heard piece, its outer movements buzzing furiously in minor keys and its central one a feast of yearning intertwined melody, was the perfect vehicle for a pair of young virtuoso 'cellists well-known to our audiences, Ilona Hepburn and Helen Downham -- flawless and full of grace. Lucy, Ilona's three-year-old, was listening and seemed entranced; her four-month-old Jessie slept through it all. The concerto was preceded, in a generous first half, by two other multi-movement works, both of which deserve the label "minor masterpiece"-- Carl Nielsen's remarkably intense and original Little Suite (1888) and Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony (1934), a very sophisticated and brilliant work developed from fragments of his childhood compositions. Both were played with love and conviction, though not without some shrillness in Carl Nielsen's exposed high violin writing. A slight orchestral misunderstanding at one point was rescued by Alan and the players with admirable skill, not breaking the flow. The second half, after Sibelius's strange little Romance, brought a further feast of melody and invention, in another work that deserves to be better known, Dvorák's five-movement Serenade for Strings. The orchestra was flying by now, and made light of all the tricky bits and the most of all the tunes. Dvorák's composing has the same quality of combining cogent musical thought with freedom of inspiration. I came upon a member of the audience literally hugging herself with glee at the end. It was that sort of evening. The public did not see the herculean efforts afterwards (tired conductor included) to clear the church and trundle all the "props" back to the somewhat deconstructed U.R.C. The Sinfonietta Quiz Night on 4th February was enjoyed as always, and raised about £250 for the orchestra's beleaguered treasury. Numbers, though still impressive for any quiz night, were a bit down on last year (14 teams instead of 17) -- perhaps because of the cold weather, though that doesn't usually deter our "public". This event, into which as usual a number of people put a lot of work, is worth keeping alive. 1st January 2009 In the wake of another successful Carol Concert -- the highlight of which was Adolphe Adam's O Holy Night, in a new arrangement as a soaring two-tenor duet, performed with the orchestra by Andrew Follin (the evening's soloist) and his father Terry, a member of Alan's choir, the New Cross Singers -- the news and views of 2008 can be consigned to the archive (click 2008 below), making way for a new chapter. The Prospectus will be out shortly, but Web viewers can already find full details of our 2009 schedule on this site (click Coming Events above). Already before the impact of the Credit Crunch it was clear that our search for funding was becoming even more arduous than usual. It's only recently that we've been able to confirm that the planned September concert, and most importantly the November one at the Town Hall, can go ahead. In the present circumstances, the future of the Sinfonietta has to be a matter for serious concern. Every little helps. Modest offers of sponsorship could alleviate our feeling of always being "on the brink", and an increase in Membership, for which the contribution is only £5 per year, would be genuinely welcome. If you would like to help in one of these ways, please contact Gavin Wallace -- telephone number (01744) 600846 , e-mail address GW.sinfonietta@blueyonder.co.uk . |
