WITH the country basking in the best early May weather for years the body may have been taken care of but there was even more to warm the soul in a packed festival weekend of top notch music.
There were two distinctive strings to the festival’s bow this time round. Anniversaries in the lives and legacies of Maurice Ravel and Arthur Bliss. The music of both composers, so different in their ways, featured but didn’t overpower a fabulous line-up of ensembles and artistes.
The task of getting things under way fell to the Trio Shaham-Erez-Wallfisch.
As a demonstration of the breadth of tonality on offer from such a trio this concert had it all. Shostakovich’s Trio 2 in E minor showed the trio at its most stretched. Painfully taut high register playing – particularly at the upper extremes of the cello range – and an almost dissociated commentary from the piano gave us a trio of three very separate players.
In sharp contrast the Ravel Piano Trio in A minor which followed presented music-making as a far more harmonic, supportive proposition particularly in the beautifully measured passacaille, a highlight in a very fine recital.
In a brave bit of programming the sound of improvised (though classically-inspired) jazz took to the stage for a late evening concert. Dominic Alldis and his trio follow in the footsteps of great crossover ensembles, not least those of Jacques Loussier. Breathtaking virtuosity from bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Justin Bambini helped make this slight oddity in the festival line-up a real treat for all.
Bliss’s Clarinet Quintet paired the Carducci Quartet and virtuoso Emma Johnson in a piece which blends all five voices perfectly rather than demoting the quartet to mere accompanists. A luscious third movement showed just how good this pairing can be in music at the same time traditionally English and pleasingly inventive.
A sprightly and fabulously bright performance of Mozart’s contribution to the repertoire followed and will have been a highlight for many.
Elsewhere during the weekend musicians notable including pianist Mark Bebbington, baritone Roderick Williams and young organist Elli-Mae McGlone, provided plenty to enjoy. With concerts and talks taking place at the parish church of All Saints as well as the Pump Rooms this was a festival open to all.
The Sacconi Quartet took to the stage on Monday evening with something of a wrapping-up job before them, quartets by Ravel and Bliss bringing the musical curtain down on this excellent part-tribute, part-introduction to the chamber works of both composers.
The Ravel quartet in F Minor provided a perfect opening to the evening. Amid the glorious sun-drenched melodies throughout the piece there are some fiendishly clever pizzicato sections. Ensemble playing of the highest order is needed to make this work and it doesn’t get much better than this.
Bliss bade a fond farewell to the weekend with his Piano Quartet, pianist Simon Callaghan joining for spirited reading of a piece redolent of far happier times than its emergence under the shadow of the Great War. The quartet revealed they had taken this work on specially for this festival and it’s to be hoped they enjoyed it as much as the generous applause suggested we all did.
Festivals are an opportunity not just to indulge in a wealth of music-making, but to focus on one or two areas of the repertoire and feel a growing attachment. Such was the balance of programming in this year’s festival that all will have gone away inspired and entertained in equal measure.
Whether your lasting memory will have been of Emma Johnson’s playful virtuosity and tapping foot, the warm tones of Roderick Williams’s voice, the expressiveness of violinist Deniz Sensoy or the power of Elli Mae McGlone at the church organ, there were enough great moments to go round.Visit leamingtonmusic.org for details of forthcoming concerts.
