{"id":776,"date":"2020-01-14T08:22:18","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T08:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=776"},"modified":"2020-01-14T08:22:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T08:22:20","slug":"reviews-and-previews-of-classical-music-by-graham-marshall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/01\/14\/reviews-and-previews-of-classical-music-by-graham-marshall\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC by Graham Marshall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Graham Marshall
Rochdale Music Society<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

MUSICIANS IN\nTRANSCIENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On reading my latest e mail from Graham Marshall I was also reminded of not only how many classical musicians have enjoyed opportunities early in their careers through Rochdale Music Society, but also how many have since moved in new and exciting directions.\u00a0 For instance, I recalled one particular article had sent me a year or so ago, reviewing a four piece string quartet that I, too, had really enjoyed when seeing them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwas about young musicians who gave one of the final three concerts in their\nband\u00b4s career for Rochdale Music Society at Heywood Civic Hall. Graham\u00b4s review\ncaught the mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4It was a privilege to be a member of\nthe audience in Heywood Civic Centre for the Rochdale Music Society concert by\nThe Zelkova String Quartet,\u00b4 Graham wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Casroline Pether (violin 1), Ed\nPether (violin 2), Alistair Vennart (viola) and Jonathan Pether (cello)\nexcelled in performing three masterpieces of the genre. In what was a striking\nmusical sequence of rising emotional intensity they carried their listeners\nalong from the heart-warming atmosphere of Mozart\u2019s \u2018Hunty\u2019 Quartet through the\ncomparatively challenging tensions of Mendelssohn\u2019s E minor Quartet Op. 44 No.\n2 to the emotional outbursts of Dvorak\u2019s Op.106.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of his piece continued in\nsimilar acclaim, and it sounded yet another feather in the cap of Rochdale\nMusic Society, who have a long tradition of bringing some of the finest\nmusicians from The Royal Northern College of Music (and beyond) out into the\nsuburbs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Graham\u00b4s review included a link to\nthe Zelkova facebook page, where I found the following saddening entry, by the\nquartet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Last month brought the last three concerts in the life of the Zelkovas. We played at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Rochdale Heywood Civic Centre and closed our career at New Mills Spring Bank Arts Centre.\u00b4

\u00b4W ow, what a nine years it’s been! Last Sunday saw the Zelkova Quartet’s final concert. Thank you Centre and Dale Culliford<\/a>, it was wonderful to do our last concert in Spring Bank’s gorgeous acoustic for such a lovely audience. A big thank you to our three stand-in violists who were such a pleasure to play with over the last few months, Anna Brigham<\/a>, Lucy Nolan<\/a> and Ali Vennart<\/a> – you were all dreams!\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4And\nfinally a huge thank you to all Zelkova members old and new for all your hard\nwork and dedication over the years: Simmy Singh<\/a>, Rhiannon James<\/a>, Rachel Shakespeare-Brooker<\/a>, Ed Pether<\/a>, Alex Mitchell and Jonathan Pether<\/a>, it’s been a blast!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4We’ve\nhad an amazing few years playing together, enjoying the incredible string\nquartet repertoire and learning from some of the world’s finest chamber\nmusicians. We’re sad to see it end but we are each also looking forward to new\nventures.\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nwas a stark reminder of how even such wonderful combinations as were The\nZelkovas do not stay around for ever, and that all sorts of issues, including\nindividual artistic creativity and ambition, can pull members in different\ndirections. That is why I make every effort I can to collect what recordings\nmight be available of my favourite musicians and why I try to catch their live\nperformances if they are playing anywhere in striking distance of my home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Rochdale\nMusic Society continued delivering their services to the Borough, George Graham\nMarshall also included yet another insightful review, of another exciting\nconcert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4This concert proved an exciting, colourful and\nrewarding finale to months of the most splendid music-making by performers of\ninternational status, enjoyed by the discerning citizens of Rochdale Borough\nand beyond who have formed the audiences,\u00b4 wrote Graham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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musicians in transience<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4The South African cellist, Abel Selaocoe,\u00b4\nGraham continued, \u00b4is noted for bringing to the concert hall his exceptional\ntalent for exploiting the whole range of sonorities offered by his instrument\nfrom scratch and scrape to sweet and soulful. On this occasion he excelled in\nperforming solo music of several very different genres, and duets with the\nexcellent Belarusian pianist, Maya Irgalina. Both Abel and Maya are former\nstudents of Manchester\u2019s Royal Northern College of Music, which continues to\nproduce numerous musicians like them – of first rate international acclaim.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of Graham\u00b4s beautifully written\ncritique left me in no doubt that this is another musical combination that\nanybody who is able to do so should try to catch \u00b4live.\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4The programme notes,\u00b4 Graham said in his\nreview, \u00b4promised this concert would amuse, excite, bewitch, astound, disturb,\nenrage, confound and generally prove the power of music to enliven, enhance and\njustify our aesthetic enjoyment of life. It fulfilled this promise.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abel and Maya sound like two remarkable\nmusicians, bound to move on to greater things, but we should remember that even\nthings this good do not last for ever. Therefore, if I can catch the ear of our\nfriends at The Cabildo in The Department Of Culture Arts And Tourism, I think I\nmight recommend that a booking over here for this duo might be well rewarded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See how enthusiasts and experts like\nGraham can set us dreaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst all reviews must be honest, I\nthink a reviewer also has a duty of care and must, first, do no harm. Writers\nlike Graham celebrate music, whether global or parochial, as he reminded me in\nanother recent review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I was privileged recently to attend the\nConcert given by the Oldham Choral Society at the Royal Northern College of\nMusic. I’d like to share the Review I wrote for them:\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4As this splendid performance came to\nits hushed conclusion I was reminded of the last lines of T. S. Eliot\u2019s The\nHollow Men:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 
\nThis is the way the world ends 
\nThis is the way the world ends 
\nThis is the way the world ends 
\nNot with a bang but a whimper<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nFor after the life and death issues confronted in the texts of all Requiems,\nand in this case being treated with the intensely dramatic force of a composer\nexpertly attuned to their expression in musical terms, the sense of almost\nbreathless pursuit of the truth about life and death, the universe and\neverything coming to a faltering end is magnificently displayed in the\nlingering, chant-like jabbering of \u201clibera me\u201d. Freedom will come with knowing\nthe truth, but will be worth the knowing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdi\u2019s is not a setting of the Latin\ntexts of the Requiem Mass for liturgical use, but a musical tribute composed in\nmemory of his poet friend, Alessandro Manzoni. It was first performed in 1874,\nsince when it has become a repertory feature of choral societies all over the\nworld; and naturally so, because it offers amateur singers a great opportunity\nto get together with necessarily more accomplished soloists – and, perhaps and\npreferably – an orchestra to give voice to one of the great uses of church\nLatin texts for sublime, concert hall musical effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nThe Conductor, Nigel P. Wilkinson, is to be congratulated on marshalling his\nforces with unobtrusive yet commanding authority throughout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The members of the Oldham Choral Society\nhad chosen to give this masterpiece an airing again, and they rose to the\noccasion with seasoned assurance. There were odd moments of very slight\nhesitation and of being somewhat overwhelmed by the orchestra, but that is\nreally only to be expected when you are caught up in a musical portrayal of the\nuniversal struggle with the unpredictable and sometimes cruel forces of nature.\nIt\u2019s being true to life! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the most part the choral\ncontribution to the performance was excellent, with securely focused rhythmic\nand dynamic control over precise intonation being the order of the day. Fugal\nand double chorus sections (like the Sanctus) went along very smoothly indeed\nand the rapport with soloists and orchestra was firm – the Lacrimosa being a\nparticularly good example of this. The East Lancashire Sinfonia, led by Sally\nRobinson, collaborated with equal assurance in presenting Verdi\u2019s spectacular\nscore. Without the full ensemble envisaged in the original score, the players\nproduced quite sufficient sound to complement the chorus and make the\ncombination of voices and instruments one to be relished and remembered for its\nbrilliant musical colours. There were some moments of beautifully controlled\npianissimo string playing, eloquently sounded clarinet and bassoon playing as\nwell as thunderous brass and percussion in the climactic sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nAs for the soloists, the choice of soprano Linda Richardson, mezzo-soprano\nKathleen Wilkinson, tenor David Butt Philip and bass Thomas D. Hopkinson, all\nformer students of the RNCM, was an inspired one. The distribution of solos,\nduets, trios and quartets in this work is unusual, but each is given an\nopportunity to impress in their own way, and they did so to the delight of an\nappreciative audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda\u2019s top B flat in the Libera me was\na particular moment of magic, appearing as from nowhere and perfectly\narticulated: pianissimo. Kathleen, who had the largest amount of solo work to\ndo was particularly persuasive in Recordare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David soared to truly bel canto heights\nin the Ingemisco aria, Thomas impressed with mors stupebit and confutatis\nmaladictis. All four executed their combined moments delightfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oldham Choral Society will no doubt\nturn again to Verdi\u2019s Requiem for one of its concerts. When it does, it is to\nbe hoped that the performance will be equally as successful and rewarding for\nall concerned as tonight\u2019s has been for them.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said earlier that Graham recognises\nthe power and purpose of reviews and understands the val\u00f1ue of submitting\npreviews to as wide a range of media as possible to help ensure the good sized\naudiences that have helped sustain superb annual prpgrammes for Rochdale Music\nSociety for almost four decades now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His latest preview certainly whets the\nappetite<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00b4Our 40th Anniversary Season\ncontinues in 2020 with Luka Okras playing piano music by Haydn, Chopin\nand Rachmaninov on <\/strong>Saturday 1st February at the usual time\nof  7.30pm in\nHeywood Civic Centre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haydn’s E\nminor Sonatashows the composer’s growing awareness of the increased range of tonal\nand dynamic possibilities for keyboard music being composed for the harpsichord<\/em>\nor <\/em>the newly invented fortepiano<\/em> which was to lead on the\ncreation of the modern pianoforte. Despite its minor key, it is both lyrical\nand dramatic in very attractive and pleasing ways!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chopin’s\nPiano Sonata No. 2 has the well-known ‘Funeral March<\/em>‘ slow movement. The other\nmovements are equally deserving of being ‘well-known’, of course! As you will\ndiscover, if you don’t already know, when you hear them played by such a\nmusician as Luka Okras is proving to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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check out Luka Okros
on You Tube<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Six\nMusical Moments (‘moments musicaux’) Op. 16 by\nRachmaninovpresent technical and interpretative challenges that might well outface\neven some of the most accomplished concert pianists. If you are able simply to\nlisten to them being played by such an accomplished artist at the keyboard as\nLuka, you are blessed indeed. I look forward to sharing with you an evening of\npianistic delights. Do come along and ENJOY!\u00b4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case you\nremained in any doubt at all that this will be an impressive and enjoyable\nconcert, Graham followed all that up woith a facebook message that read,  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4<\/strong>Before\nyou come to our next concert, you might like to watch this:
\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch\u2026<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did it, and found a remarkable You\nTube performance by Luke Ocros that showed him definitely as an artist not to\nbe missed, and I am already jealous of those of you who will get to Rochdale to\nsee a young musician in the transient stages of what will be a long career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See the\nwebsite for details of tickets.www.rochdalemusicsociety.org<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\nas we in our Spanish office look forward to including Graham\u00b4s review of that\nconcert in a forthcoming Sidetracks and Detours post, we are currently\nattending a wonderful series of concerts here on Lanzarote that comprise the 36th<\/sup>\nannual International Festival of Classical Music on The Canary Islands, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Classical Festival, six concerts: two free<\/a><\/blockquote>