An Evening with The King’s Singers

St Andrew’s Church, Grinton

A FULL house greeted the King’s Singers who began with five Italian and English madrigals.

I thought they were at their best here with, for example Thomas Morley’s Hard by a Crystal Fountain sung ever so lightly and Edward Johnson’s Come, Blessed Bird beautifully expressed.

James MacMillan’s A Rumoured Seed, commissioned by the Singers, is his setting of four poems by Michael Symmons Roberts, all on aspects of spring.

A complex, multi-layered piece with words often overlapping I found it a difficult piece to judge on first hearing – one to admire rather than enjoy.

The following Edwardian and Victorian part songs performed in various combinations were a pleasing contrast and decidedly easier to follow.

Stanford’s The Bluebird was imaginatively set and J.C. Macy’s Jenks’s Vegetable Compound balanced lightness and humour most effectively, before Sullivan’s touching, if short, The Long Day Closes.

Their second set began with a group of folk song settings from around the world including an outstanding Le Baylère from the Auvergne and a Maori song, Pokarekare Ana.

Finally they brought their tightly arranged and polished singing to a group of popular American songs including Gershwin’s Our Love is Here to Stay which they performed with some verve.

And for an encore they sang an arrangement by former member Bob Chilcott, who was in the audience, of the Beatles’ And I Love Her.

Peter Bevan

Skampa Quartet

St Andrew’s Church, Grinton

PROMOTED in the Swaledale Festival programme as one of the finest string quartets you’ll hear anywhere in the world, the Skampa Quartet gave the second of their two recitals in the sympathetic acoustic of St. Andrew’s Church.

From the opening String Quartet in G. Op. 77, No. 1 by Haydn, I’m pleased to say it fully justified the promotional enthusiasm.

In an undoubted masterpiece of string quartet writing they demonstrated perfect balance, weight and dynamics.

The playing was absolutely together with phrases moving beautifully from one instrument to another.

I’m not sure I picked up every detail of the story in Janacek’s passionate String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters , but I did enjoy the beauty of the playing.

This included some of the softest cello playing I’ve ever heard, a series of quickly changing moods and some intense expression.

Brahms’ String Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1, could hardly have been more different with its tensions built up so gradually and deliberately.

The Skampa’s light skittering in the Allegretto was a welcome contrast before the final unleashing of feeling in the final Allegro.

Their encore of the second movement of Pavel Fischer’s Mad Piper Quartet completed an outstanding performance.

Peter Bevan

Pau Codina

St Mary’s Church, Arkengarthdale

THE planned recital for viola and cello by Rosalind Ventris and Pau Codina had to be quickly rearranged when Ms Ventris sprained her thumb and was unable to play.

Fortunately, the talented young cellist Pau Codina was able to perform a solo recital though with a totally different programme.

Perhaps not surprisingly, he chose Bach’s Cello Suites Nos. 1 and 3, which framed a less familiar piece by Gaspar Cassado.

In a confident performance he played both Bach Suites very well with a consistently beautiful tone across the range. He caught the moods of the different dance movements – some light, others more emphatic, but all flowing easily and inevitably.

Cassado’s Suite for Solo Cello, like the Bach Suites, was also based on dances including in this case the traditional and symbolic Sardana from his native Catalonia.

The first movement became increasingly difficult and dramatic and, as Codina pointed out in his helpful introduction, the second emulated the sounds of some of the unique instruments used in this dance including the one-handed piccolo.

Though a challenging piece to play, Codina performed it with great conviction and authority. A little Catalan folk melody by Pablo Casals ended another enjoyable afternoon recital.

Peter Bevan