#AldeburghFestival2019 : The #UCFF portal-page (in progress)

#AldeburghFestival2019 [This posting is a place-holder]

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2019 (17 to 24 October)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

20 June

#AldeburghFestival2019 [This posting is a place-holder]

Just for these views, well worth doing a river-cruise at @snapemaltings ! pic.twitter.com/OtaOkpTwOO

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 22, 2019

Sunday 16 June ~ Britten and Bridge
The Britten Studio at 4.00

Or, still as Part I, but swapping 2 and 3 ?

Or did it need to be Part I (not II) ?

The thinking being that Holst seemed to have had something to say to Harvey, but less so to Britten, even if we moved on in time...

Of course, one's spoiled by @BrittenSinfonia programming !

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 16, 2019

Always good to be at the @PloughandSail, and necessary to have one's non-musical space here when at @snapemaltings for Aldeburgh Festival [for Music and the Arts] :

Very glad to hear @VLuminis again for to-night's and Tuesday's concerts (duck terrine and sea bass to follow) !

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 16, 2019

Sunday 16 June ~ Vox Luminis II
The Snape Maltings Concert Hall at 7.30

A report by Tweet on Vox Luminis II at #AldeburghFestival2019

In the opening setting by Britten of Dryden (with a second Ode to Saint Cecilia to come), @CLuminis gave us moments of hushed voices and diction that didn't need the text. When it came to Handel's 'Dixit Dominus', the packed audience was even more esctatic !

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 16, 2019

Monday 17 June ~ Schubert 1828
The Snape Maltings Concert Hall at 7.30

At @snapemaltings, so moving to hear The @DiotimaQuartet play that familiar movement from a G Major Quartet, and so feelingly played, in the context of Schubert 1828 : Schöne Musik, schön gespielt :)

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 17, 2019

#UCFF could not resist, having heard the beauty and insight of last night's playing, buying a ticket to hear the last of Schubert's String Quartets in full (on some numbering, No. 15) :

Thank you, #AldeburghFestival2019, and see you for 11.00 ! :)

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 18, 2019

[...]

Some like to diagnose both Schubert's mental health and how what killed him, in physical terms, must or might not have been evident to him : yet, as with an over-fascination for the Mozart and Salieri story / stories, is it only now that Antonio Salieri's work gets reconsidered ?

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 18, 2019

Tuesday 18 June ~ Il Quatuor Diotima
Aldeburgh Parish Church at 11.00

For #AldeburghFestival2019, #UCFF was delighted to be back at Aldeburgh Church, and @THEAGENTAPSLEY both to be led into the worlds of Karl Szymanowski and Thomas Larcher by @DiotimaQuartet and to get their autographs on the programme ! pic.twitter.com/D7RVI7chOx

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 18, 2019

Tuesday 18 June ~ Britten and Blake
The Britten Studio at 4.00

The singing, of course, of @Sviceridor in no way made it necessary to have the words, and as Clare alumnus Andrew West and he concurred, the biting nature of the setting - the Blake, too, is snarling - leaves one not wanting more from Britten.

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 22, 2019

Quite apart from the voice that ably and almost necessarily disturbingly gave us Britten's setting of Pears' choice of Blake, it is so nice to encounter @Sviceridor affably at @PloughandSail, or before or after the gig -the v. friendly side of #AldeburghFestival2019

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 19, 2019

Britten and Blake were both publicists, but Britten was the better at it, which is why he would not have looked for knottier or more distant texts of Blake's to set than these

Patience Agbabi's reading of her 'homework' was not only a tour de force that outclassed her 'teacher', but also, one likes to think, one whose extent and content were surprising to all hearing them

A present puzzle is Kate Kennedy's claim of 'the logical impossibility' of hearing a manacle (if not 'mind-forg'd' ?) :

It was in Poetry and Music (Songs and Proverbs of William Blake) at #AldeburghFestival2019, so is contending that only a rattling manacle is audible prosaic ?

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 18, 2019

Not really 'a tree falls in a forest' stuff of Berkeley, but whether one *hears* a manacle per se at all :

A wedding-ring can clink, e.g., [against] a glass. Isn't a metal - not a Fifty Shades - manacle in halves, and prone to rattle... ?

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 19, 2019

Tuesday 18 June ~ Vox Luminis III
Pre-concert Talk in The Britten-Pears Recital Room at 6.30 / Snape Maltings Concert Hall at 7.30

Some people declare how dull Heaven must be, with endless praise...

But yet conceive of it as 'the instruments of joy' who are @VLuminis, celebrating in sound the majestic and divine in the first half of the programme Vox Luminis III at @snapemaltings at #AldeburghFestival2019 !

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 26, 2019

As he told #UCFF after the second half of the programme that he had his ensemble bring us at @snapemaltings for Vox Luminis III, what he liked most about it was that it is thirty minutes of silence :

Casting us back into another time as assuredly as Schubert 1828 did this year !

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) July 10, 2019

Wednesday 19 June ~ Alisa Weilerstein
Blythburgh Church at 7.30

Then, Johann Sebastian's humanity and compassion - nowhere greater in the Suites No. 1 in G Major and No. 3 in C Major than in the Sarabande - comes to us directly

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 19, 2019

It's been good at @snapemaltings and its various venues for #AldeburghFestival2019, but we all know what's said of all good things - and Alisa Weilerstein at Blythburgh gave #UCFF quite a send-off with four Suites from BWV 2007-2012 ! :)

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 19, 2019

It's lovely along there !

After taking a river-cruise out to Iken Cliff on the last day of my Festival visit in June, I walked back out there that evening. pic.twitter.com/vOoiq7ds1n

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) July 30, 2019

Addenda :

Or 1. @SoundCircusJM...

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 21, 2019

Or 4. @DiotimaQuartet

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 19, 2019

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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)

Tweets from Easter at King's 2017

Tweets from Easter at King's 2017 (and a night at Cambridge Modern Jazz)

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2016 (20 to 27 October)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

Tweets from Easter at King's 2017 (and a night at Cambridge Modern Jazz)

Finally - thanks to a good price and a friend's generosity - able to listen to the @AAMorchestra 3-disc St Matthew Passion this Lent...

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 16, 2017

Tuesday 11 April :

As several years before, part of Holy Week was saying hello to @bojancic and hearing him :https://t.co/nvYE2iFRh3https://t.co/QSNUDILfF3

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 26, 2017

.@ConcertsatKings @AAMorchestra @BojanCicic @SJCleobury Of probably half-a-dozen performances of St Matthew Passion that have been heard at Easter at @Kings_College, @SJCleobury surpassed them all

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 12, 2017

.@ConcertsatKings @AAMorchestra @BojanCicic @SJCleobury With almost too many fine vocal and instrumental soloists to record, the oboists and continuo-players of @AAMorchestra are always a strength

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 12, 2017

More instalments due of Some Tweeting from Easter at King's 2016 - so far, @AAMorchestra @nycgb @BrittenSinfonia :https://t.co/XgIct2hrU7

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 25, 2016

Wednesday 12 April :

With held bows, instrumentalists can encourage delayed applause, but not the reverential hush as for Messiaen to-night at @ConcertsatKings.

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 12, 2017

From 1937 and The World Fair in Paris, with Fête des belles eaux for six ondes martenots, to Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus for cello and pf.

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 12, 2017

.@PosterTom @cellojohnston Its impact set us up to end on Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus (the 8th section, from an organ piece), played by @ElenaUrioste @PosterTom.

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 12, 2017

Easter at King's continued last night with another outstanding concert https://t.co/HFCLobwnPo @kings_college @concertsatkings

— Cambridge What's On (@CamWhatsOn) April 13, 2017

Stories have arisen about the genesis of Quatuor pour la fin du temps, and they're easy to repeat : what one cannot repeat is a performance. https://t.co/lIrHqx1xPh

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 13, 2017

Maundy Thursday [at Cambridge Modern Jazz, with Arnie Somogy's 'Jump Monk' Quintet] ~ 13 April :

Deserting @ConcertsatKings at Easter for @camjazz, last night, allowed one to take in @tonykofi's direct, but full and warm, tone on alto !

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 14, 2017

Not in any formally aleatoric way, but just because that was how pieces had fallen from, and been restored to, his music-stand, leader Arnie Somogyi (double-bass) deviated from the set-list, and so there was an uneven spread between what Thelonius Sphere Monk and Charles Mingus had written :

This went well, because we knew that we were in for an evening of Monk and Mingus staples – the latter had even written ‘Jump Monk’ for the former (even if most of Monk’s puns or wordplay remained just as obscure). When frontmen, Tony Kofi (alto) and Jeremy Price (trombone) stepped aside, we reduced to the cohesive form of the classic trio, with Mark Edwards (piano) and Clark Tracey (drums) playing tightly with Somogyi, and not even averse to a solo, all of which rarely did not have us nodding along to what these exponents of their art were devising.

Price and Kofi are very different players, so they did not try to compete with each other’s style, and Price’s playing complemented the improvisation that we had heard from Kofi : they each listened with care to the other, and, whereas Kofi’s is a more right-ahead sound, Price played with an inward-out manner that focused on a rounded tone-quality. As the audience did, who were really getting into these developmental lines, Somogyi must have liked long-form solos, and he would only sparingly call in any of the players, when he wanted to shape where the number was going. All in all, a very full and good night’s jazz !

Season hi-light Arnie Somogyi JUMP MONK Qnt with @tonykofi @ClarkTracey1 Thu Apr 13 @HiddenRooms 8pm. https://t.co/Pm1Y77m8Jm 07827 012875 pic.twitter.com/GFwiivzJ5W

— camjazz (@camjazz) April 4, 2017

* * *

In the @ConcertsatKings programme-book for Easter at @Kings_College, a very nice, detailed write-up of @JoyLisney's work and career for Thu.

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 12, 2017

Playing the solo part in the Haydn concerto in D, and directing, @JoyLisney gave the first concert by @SeraphinCO :https://t.co/uuAMDTL3U7 https://t.co/9BQo20YMP4

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 12, 2017

If last night, at @ConcertsatKings @Kings_College, was your first time of hearing @JoyLisney, this video from @KingsPlace is worth watching. https://t.co/87Ndll1LGj

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 14, 2017

LIVE from @KingsPlace @Kingsplaceevent #Britten Suite No. 3 for Cello, performed by @JoyLisney https://t.co/nEh5EiGIoc via @YouTube

— Joy Lisney (@JoyLisney) December 11, 2015

Good Friday ~ 14 April :

Enjoyed 2 days working with @BBCCO & @Philchorus & now looking forward v much to Brahms Requiem concert @ Easter at King's festival tonight.

— Stephen Cleobury (@SJCleobury) April 14, 2017

An interesting programme around the Brahms - the context given by the Bruckner and Mozart looks illuminating, @SJCleobury @ConcertsatKings. https://t.co/9kLupgbeDW

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 14, 2017

For @ConcertsatKings at Easter, the immensely impressive sound of @Philchorus in full voice - many accolades as people left @Kings_College !

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 14, 2017

Holy Saturday ~ 15 April :

Today the orchestra alongside Britten Sinfonia Voices will be singing the chorales from St John Passion in the rehearsal room together

— Britten Sinfonia (@BrittenSinfonia) April 10, 2017

@THEAGENTAPSLEY did you see Mark's article in Saturday's Guardian? https://t.co/TIklmeAzkk

— Britten Sinfonia (@BrittenSinfonia) April 10, 2017

Many thanks, @MarkPadmore, @BrittenSinfonia + Voices, @ejdougan, for your vision of Bach's St John Passion, last night at @ConcertsatKings ! https://t.co/XXEpcj1OWX

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 16, 2017

.@ConcertsatKings @BrittenSinfonia Directed by leader Jacqueline Shave and doubtless influenced by @markpadmore (as Evangelist), a performance of solemnity, but not pretension

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 16, 2017

.@ConcertsatKings @BrittenSinfonia @MarkPadmore They gave an intense sound en masse, with tautness to the turba choruses, and Mark Padmore a dignified narrator - but expressively chromatic

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 16, 2017

.@ConcertsatKings @BrittenSinfonia @MarkPadmore All credit to @ejdougan - as director of @BrittenSinfonia Voices - for the quality of what we heard from them : together and in solo arias !

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 16, 2017

.@BrittenSinfonia Likewise, the Chorus (16b) :

Wäre dieser nicht ein Übeltäter,
wir hätten dir ihn nicht überantwortet.

St John Passion at @ConcertsatKings

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 18, 2017

Easter Monday ~ 17 April :

Nearly all over, at @ConcertsatKings at Easter, with just the organ recital at 5.30 p.m. :https://t.co/LHmvbcVHLvhttps://t.co/QSNUDILfF3

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 16, 2017

.@ConcertsatKings These Liszt transcriptions are for those who love the sound-world of the Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 187 - and don't see 'mere' Romanticism.

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 18, 2017

.@ConcertsatKings His artist note :

He is also eager to perpetuate the art of improvisation in all of its forms, including the accompaniment of silent films

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 18, 2017

One can read more about @thomasospital on his web-site :https://t.co/E16Gja9rDV

[This part of https://t.co/ZBEEWqJKee is in English] https://t.co/hzNDh4D23L

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 18, 2017

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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)

Setting what text to music?

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2012
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

7 May

Well, I have heard, in the last week, Mark Padmore's choice of a text, which Jonathan Dove turned out to end up setting several years later, and now more in the collaboration between Jim Tomlinson, Stacey Kent and Kazuo Ishiguro in a song (to whose words the link takes you) called Postcard Lovers.

Honestly, I cannot feel that either poem was worth the attention, and it puts me in mind again of writing about Elgar putting together his own libretto for The Apostles...


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Vaughan Williams and Blake

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2012
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

4 May

[For what it is worth, Wikipedia® would probably call this posting 'a stub']

After a performance, earlier in the week, by Nicholas Daniel and Mark Padmore of Ten Blake Songs by Vaughan Williams, and as someone who enjoys the composer's music, and is interested in the painter / engraver / writer's works, I wanted to know more about the genesis of these settings.

It is clear that I shall have to borrow an authoritative and detailed biography of VW to know more about the subject, but, in the meantime, the notes that appear on a page on hyperion's web-site are a useful starting-point.


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