REVIEWS
OCTOBER 7th 2011 MUSIC BY MEMBERS OF THE NORTH WEST COMPOSERS ASSOCIATION
The 2010-2011 season of concerts presented by the Rochdale Music Society began on Thursday, October 7th with a programme illustrative of the lively mixture of styles to be encountered among the music of composers who belong to the North West Composers Association.
The concert of music by North West Composers revealed the good acoustic properties of the building, which lends itself perfectly to the kind of instrumental and vocal sounds enjoyed this by the attentive and appreciative audience on this first collaborative occasion bringing the RMS and NWCA together.
Piano music by Colin Bayliss (chairman of the NWCA) and David Forshaw (Secretary NWCA) was deftly played by Christopher Pulleyn and the composer respectively.
John Peace joined Christopher in some energetic duets by Graham Marshall (Vice-Chairman NWCA), whose ‘Five Whimsies’ were sung with great sympathy by the countertenor David Solomons and Pietà an icon for organ performed with conviction by Parish Church Master of the Music, Phlip Lowe.
David Solomons (also a member of the NWCA ) accompanied himself on the guitar in performances of four delightfully whimsical songs of his own.
Geoffrey Kimpton (Treasurer NWCA) was the committed viola soloist in his own arrangement of a substantial and lyrical four-movement work he wrote originally for cello and piano, ‘Scope’, in which he was accompanied by John Peace.
Flautist Lesley Reading played the first movement of a Sonatina for Flute and piano by Colin Bayliss, and also joined Graham Marshall in his Haitian Lullaby with Variants for Flute and guitar, a work written earlier this year as part of a disasters’ fund-raising project by the Delian Society, an internet group of composers from all over the world. The harpsichord voicing of an electronic keyboard made a perfectly acceptable substitute for the guitar in this balanced performance.
This was the first time that Rochdale’s ancient Parish Church of St. Chad had been used as a venue for an RMS concert. It will not be the last.A further concert in St. Chad’s is already planned for May 7th 2011, when members of the New London Chamber Ensemble will include in a varied programme the world première of local composer Graham Marshall’s Wind Quintet, ‘Moods’.
SEASON 2011-12
October 1st 2011 THE FUJITA PIANO TRIO
It still surprises me to discover just how in tune with 18th an19th century European music so many of our contemporary performers from such different backgrounds as China and Japan can be. Like the three Fujita sisters from Japan - Arisa (violin), Honoka (cello) and Megumi (piano) - who were able effortlessly to bring to the ears of a receptive audience in the Heywood Civic Centre convincing accounts of Trios by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann.
Mozart is all about precision and elegance. The sisters showed these in abundance through the three movements of his short Trio in C major, which might be regarded as a light-hearted companion to his great 'Jupiter' Symphony in the same key written around the same time. It provides a mouth-watering opener to an evening when the musical possibilities of combining violin, cello and piano were well realised.
The Gminor Trio of Clara Schumann, remarkable wife of Robert Schumann, was played with great sensitivity. Clara's work as a composer would might well have been more productive had she not devoted herself to supporting her husband and family of eight children by working for over 50 years as a concert pianist. Performances of her work are comparatively rare. We are indebted to the Fujita Trio for bring this warm-hearted an dbeguiling work to our attention.
Mendelssohn, like Mozart, had but abrief life. Yet he left us a wealth of musical experience to be enjoyed over and over again. The Dminor Trio is a work filled with flowing and flowering jmeldoy in its outer movements, gently impressing in its slow lullaby-like second movement and almost breath-taking in its mercurial scherzo. It does not quite match up to his Symphonies, Violin Concerto, Oratorios or incidental music to A Midsummer NIght's Dream, but, as the Fujita sisters amply demonstrated by their impassioned account, it is an excellent and substantial ingredient in a piano trio concert.
Those present will have been captivated by the musicianship and artistic imsight of the performers on this rewarding occasion. I would have to say, however, that it was a pity that we were not offered another 10 to 15 minutes of actual programmed music. Maybe another time?
Graham Marshall