COULD this annus miraculum have gone any better for Shed Seven, the year when the York band topped the album charts for the first time, all of 30 years since releasing Change Giver.
Getting even better? It just did, last night, in the first of two 30th anniversary homecoming gigs mounted by Leeds promoters Futuresound in the first rock concerts to be staged in York Museum Gardens since Hawkwind, Pink Fairies and Roxy Music in the long-gone 1970s.
Back where the Sheds’ Rick Witter and Paul Banks had “caused chaos” at 12, 13, 14, their loud ghetto blasters “disturbing all the OAPs”.
The music was rather louder last night, cheered on by 4,000 fans, young, Sheds-aged and quite possibly OAPS alike; myriad Shed Seven T-shirts, from their Bile Beans yellow variation to Bully Boy’s I’ll Fight You Till The Death flipside being the dress code for the hottest weather of this sodden summer so far. Annus miraculum? Even Zeus the weather god was smiling on the Sheds.
Peter Doherty: Name-checking York in Albion in acoustic solo setat York Museum Gardens. Picture: David Harrison
After sets by Serotones (son Duke Witter’s band) and Lottery Winners, enter Peter Doherty, a very unrock’n’roll six minutes early, to play charmingly solo and acoustic in dapper chapeau, name-checking York in Albion, the first song he wrote at 16, inspired to pick up a guitar by the Sheds. “I’m sweating like a Leeds fan in a spelling test,” he said in the night’s best one-liner, nevertheless keeping his suit buttoned up.
Performances in York Museum Gardens, notably the York Mystery Plays, have favoured utilising the St Mary’s Abbey backdrop, but Futuresound have broken with tradition, building a stage on the Yorkshire Museum concourse, looking down to the River Ouse, for Jack Savoretti’s Thursday opener and the Sheds’ back-to-back home fixtures.
A good decision, the abbey ruins still playing their supporting role, lit in resplendent blue as the night sky painted its picture. Witter couldn’t resist addressing those gathered on the far riverside, watching for free (always a Yorkshireman’s favourite price, as the saying goes).
A poem, uncredited alas, floated on the night air, as evocative as the smell of chocolate wafting across the city in capturing the essence of York and its characters, cobbles and quirks, to herald the arrival of the Sheds, not the Britpop veterans of lazy labelling, but a vibrant, propulsive, lippy indie band at the height of their second wave.
Let’s Go: Shed Seven’s Paul Banks and Rick Witterin homecoming union on Friday night. Picture: David Harrison
In Witter’s words, they have been reinvigorated by the arrival of new members Rob ‘Maxi’ Mansfield on drums and Tim Wells on guitar & keys. Last night marked their York debut. No fuss, low key at the back, rock solid as a Championship centre-half, and solidly rock.
The adrenaline rush of Let’s Go, as purposeful a title as the Sheds have ever written, opened the show, just as it does A Matter Of Time, whose name is emblazoned on a stage otherwise devoid of frills (no screens, no projections, plenty of northern lights).
The accusation was always that the Sheds were a meat-and-potatoes band, but that is to ignore the quality of the gravy. The way their songs connect, the pride in wearing the T-shirt, the Made In York but mad for the world brio. You’d rather be in this crowd than with the in-crowd.
If you could put together the wish-list Shed Seven-in-heaven gig, this was surely it: the weather, the historic York setting; the special guests, Reverend And The Makers’ Laura McClure, Rowetta and Doherty; the spot-on set list; Duke duetting with Rick on High Hopes; the Yorkshire brass players; She Left Me On Friday, hitting harder on a Friday night; the balance of A Matter Of Time songs and the orchestral overhaul of the upcoming Liquid Gold hits album.
More? How about the Huntington School Choir in their stubby tie uniforms for schoolyard anthem Bully Boy, Going For Gold segueing into a cover of Elvis’s Suspicious Minds and the perfect encore quartet of Room In My House; Throwaways, Witter arm in arm with Doherty; Disco Down with Rowetta in a Happy Mondays vibe, and everyone, choir, support acts, et al on the stage apron for Chasing Rainbows.
Why, there was even a marriage proposal, from Nicki Sullivan to Kevin, orchestrated by Witter as master of ceremonies. Kevin said yes, of course he did. Going for gold in a year when everything the Sheds do has done exactly that.
Crack open a can of Homecoming Hazy Session IPA, Brew York’s 30th anniversary Shed Seven fruity citrus beer, then reconvene tonight for more Shed heaven. Let’s Go Dancing, York, you, me and Peter Doherty. The t-t-t-Talk Of The Town.
Set list
Let’s Go; Speakeasy; She Left Me On Friday; High Hopes (with Duke Witter); Dolphin; Devil In Your Shoes; Tripping With You (with Laura McClure); People Will Talk; Bully Boy (with Huntington School Choir); Ocean Pie; Heroes; In Ecstasy (with Rowetta); On Standby; Going For Gold; Suspicious Minds; Talk Of The Town; Getting Better; Let’s Go Dancing.
Encore: Room In My House; Throwaways (with Peter Doherty); Disco Down (with Rowetta); Chasing Rainbow (with choir, special guests and support acts).
Futuresound presents Shed Seven, York Museum Gardens, tonight (20/7/2024); gates open at 5pm. SOLD OUT.
Running order: Apollo Junction, 5.45pm to 6.15pm; Brooke Combe, 6.35pm to 7.05pm; Peter Doherty, 7.25pm to 8.10pm; Shed Seven, 8.40pm to 10.30pm.
The queue forming in the Friday afternoon sun for Live At York Museum Gardens Danielle and Gareth, from Hull, enjoying Shed Seven’s set at York Museum Gardens Duke Witter leading Serotones on Friday evening at York Museum Gardens. Picture: David Harrison The Lottery Winners’ bassist, Katie Lloyd, at Futuresound’s Live At York Museum Gardens Thom Rylance, frontman of Leigh band The Lottery Winners, in full voice on Friday. Picture: David Harrison York singer Jess Steel, front, centre, enjoying Live At York Museum Gardens. Pictire: David HarrisonPeter Doherty and his dapper chapeau at York Mueum Gardens: Picture: David Harrison Shed Seven singer Rick Witter and bassist Tom Gladwin Shed Seven drummer Rob ‘Maxi’ Maxfield making his debut York appearance with the band on Friday night. Picture: David Harrison Making a mark: A Shed Seven tattoo at Friday’s concert. Picture: David Harrison
Digging deeper: What was the poem that heralded Shed Seven’s arrival on stage
“It’s called ‘The Boys Are Coming Home’,” says Matt Abbott, Wakefield poet, educator, activist and former frontman and lyricist of Skint & Demoralised. “Paul Banks, from the band, commissioned me to write a poem for a York-based homeless charity, Arc Light, back in 2014.
“That was actually my first-ever commission. This was through his production company Digifish. So, I was over the moon when he contacted me to write it.
“Initially, this was only meant to be for the social media announcement, so, it was brilliant to see that they also used it for the shows.”
Shed Seven: 30th anniversary homecoming celebrations continue at York Museum Gardens this evening
OPEN air concerts by Shed Seven, Kaiser Chiefs, S Club and James are the sound of summer as West Side Story and The 39 Steps turn up the heat too in Charles Hutchinson’s picks for the week ahead.
York festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Shed Seven, this evening; gates open at 5pm
SHED Seven play the second of their sold-out 30th anniversary homecoming concerts tonight, promising a different set list to Friday’s show, special guests and a choir from Huntington School, Rick Witter and Paul Banks’s old schoolyard.
The Sheds will be on stage from 8.40pm to 10.30pm. Support slots go to Apollo Junction, 5.45pm to 6.15pm; Brooke Combe, 6.35pm to 7.05pm, and The Libertines’ Peter Doherty, 7.25pm to 8.10pm. Sugababes’ festival-closing concert on Sunday was cancelled in April.
Gary Louris: The Jayhawks’ singer, guitarist and songwriter plays solo at The Crescent, York, tonight
American solo act of the week: Gary Louris, of The Jayhawks, supported by Dave Fiddler, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm
OVER three decades, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Gary Louris has co-led Minneapolis country rock supremos The Jayhawks with Mark Olson, as well as being a member of alt.rock supergroup Golden Smog, forming Au Pair with North Carolina artist Django Haskins in 2015 and releasing two solo albums, 2008’s Vagabonds and 2021’s Jump For Joy.
He has recorded with acts as diverse as The Black Crowes, Counting Crows, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Roger McGuinn, Maria McKee, Tift Merritt and The Wallflowers too. As an alternative to the sold-out Sheds on Saturday, look no further than this American rock luminary. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
The Unthanks: Sisters Rachel and Becky perform in an 11-piece line-up at Milton Rooms, Malton
Folk gig of the week: Ryedale Festival, The Unthanks, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 23, 7.30pm to 9.30pm
THE Unthanks bring the rich colours of their 11-piece ensemble to the Ryedale Festival. Blending traditional music from their native North East with the influence of Miles Davis, Steve Reich, Sufjan Stevens, King Crimson and Tom Waits, they stand as the most innovative English folk band in modern history.
Join sisters Rachel and Becky as they display an approach to storytelling that makes easy bedfellows of social commentary and sophisticated harmony, cool minimalism and moving empathy, tradition and adventure. Tickets update: for returns only, contact ryedalefestival.com/event/42-the-unthanks.
Putting it in black and white: from top, Finlay Butler, Kristian Barley, Kit Stroud, Rebecca Butler and Maia Beatrice in NETheatre York’s West Side Story
Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 24 to 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
EXPERIENCE the explosive love and rivalry in 1950s’ New York City in Bernstein & Sondheim’s musical re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. As romance blossoms between teens from opposing gangs The Sharks and The Jets, the relationship is fated to end in tragedy, spoiler alert. Steve Tearle’s production for NE Theatre York will feature a black-and-white design. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
One of Anna Matyus’s works from her exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Anna Matyus, Helmsley Arts Centre, until August 9
ANNA Matyus’s work explores the powerful spiritual resonance of historical sacred buildings and their setting in the landscape. Using etching and collagraph printmaking techniques and a colourful palette, she seeks to bring to life the powerful geometry of the often-faded motifs and time- worn patterns and symbols of historic artefacts found in the masonry and ancient tiles of these sacred sites.
“My final prints explore and record the dynamic rhythms of three-dimensional architectural form, layered with their decorative and symbolic adornment in a graphic expression of awe and wonder,” she says.
Safeena Ladha, left, Eugene McCoy, Tom Byrne and Maddie Rice in a scene from The 39 Steps, back on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior
Comedy play of the week: The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, July 23 to July 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
PATRICK Barlow’s award-garlanded stage adaptation of The 39 Steps has four actors playing 139 roles between them in 100 dashing minutes as they seek to re-create Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller while staying true to John Buchan’s 1915 book.
Tom Byrne – Falklands War-era Prince Andrew in The Crown – plays on-the-run handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
James: Playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time next Friday. Picture: Paul Dixon
Coastal gig of the week: James, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26, gates 6pm
JAMES follow up Scarborough appearances in 2015, 2018 and 2021 by continuing that three-year cycle in 2024, on the heels of releasing the chart-topping Yummy, their 18th studio album, in April.
“I’m very pleased that we will be playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer – our fourth time in fact,” says bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come. It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” Support acts will be Reverend And The Makers, from Sheffield, and Nottingham indie rock trio Girlband!. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/james.
Kaiser Chiefs: A night at the races in York. Picture: Cal McIntyre
Under starter’s orders: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Kaiser Chiefs, July 26, 8.45pm to 10.30pm, and S Club, July 27, 5.45pm to 7.30pm
LEEDS indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, who mounted the exhibition When All Is Quiet at York Art Gallery in 2018-2019, return to York next Friday when the emphasis will be on I Predict A Riot, not Quiet. Expect Oh My God, Everyday I Love You Less And Less, Ruby et al, plus songs from this year’s Easy Eighth Album, after the evening race card.
Next Saturday afternoon’s racing will be followed by British pop favourites S Club, these days featuring Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara and Rachel Stevens. Here come S Club Party, Never Had A Dream Come True, Bring It All Back, Reach, Don’t Stop Movin’, Have You Ever, Two In A Million, Say Goodbye, You’re My Number One, Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You and more besides. Raceday tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Unflappable: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
PATRICK Barlow’s inventive comedy thriller The 39 Steps – the one with four fearless actors, 139 parts and 100 minutes of chaos, calamity and one cool head – returns to York next week on its first tour in eight years.
Ahead of its return to the West End, the Tony and Olivier Award winner plays the Grand Opera House from July 23 to 27, with a cast led by Tom Byrne, whose credits include Netflix series Bridgerton and Black Mirror and the role of Falklands war-era Prince Andrew in The Crown.
On the road from April to August 3, after a two-week launch in Hornchurch, Byrne plays old-school handsome hero Richard Hannay, replete with the stiffest of upper lips, boundless English pluck and unflappable pencil-slim moustache as he hurtles through encounters with dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women in Barlow’s dapper and dastardly clever fusion of taut thriller and comic release.
“We’ve toured to about 20 theatres, doing a bit of a [theatre architect] Frank Matcham tour so far, playing some incredibly beautiful theatres, and it does seem to sit nicely in all sorts of spaces, especially the more classical ones, like the Grand Opera House” says Tom. “We’re now 120 performances into the tour, so we’ve got over that first night thing!”
Combining novelist John Buchan’s 1915 secret-service thriller Thirty-Nine Steps with a helter-skelter, harum-scarum attempt to re-create Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps – notable for introducing a music hall turn, a noir-cool blonde, handcuffs and the Forth Bridge to the story – Barlow’s comic caper must be steered by a short-handed cast of Byrne’s Hannay, Safeena Ladha’s Annabella Schmidt/Pamela/Margaret, Eugene McCoy’s Clown 1 and Maddie Rice’s Clown 2.
Not only must Byrne’s Hannay navigate his way through the hairpin bends of Buchan’s book and Hitchcock’s film, but also he finds himself murder suspect number one when a mysterious German woman, Annabelle Schmidt, dies in his arms after insisting on leaving the London Palladium by his side, desperate to impart vital information.
On the run: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay seeks to evade the police in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
“I’d never seen The 39 Steps when I read the script, but immediately Patrick Barlow’s script struck as me as being very witty, reminding me of a lot of the British comedy I grew up with,” says Tom.
“It ticks loads of boxes, being quintessentially a spy thriller, where Patrick then weaves in the metatheatrical elements of storytelling.
“My part, amidst all the hilarity, is a very layered, three-dimensional character, and I just really responded to its combination of plenty of laughs but plenty of psychological drama too – and it’s quite romantic!”
In the opening scene, Hannay has newly returned to his lonely Portland Place abode, tired of life and its mounting pile of problems. Feeling anything but alive in 1935. Suicidal even. “Patrick’s play is thought of as this really quite cosy, beloved, light-hearted comedy, but it begins with this monologue that welcomes you into the drama with a man on the edge of ending things,” says Tom.
“It’s quite remarkable that in spite of that opening, the play manages to maintain its levity, but without its potential for seriousness, it would count for nothing. That’s part of my job: to make sure the truth of the story can be honoured, which then enhances the comedy. You have to have those high stakes.
“What’s kind of surprising is that Patrick has been quite loyal to the film, then he adds another layer of enjoyment for those who love their Hitchcock as we create ‘Eater egg moments’ with nods to his other films.”
“I always felt I had a character like this in my locker,” says Tom Byrne
Tom is full of admiration for Barlow’s imagination in creating comic mayhem that nevertheless flows like a David Gower cover drive. “It’s a testament to how well it’s written that it’s so seamless in managing to make all the different elements happen simultaneously, yet for the performers it feels pretty simple when we’re on stage- thought maybe that’s because I’m playing just one role!” he says.
The comedy may be British in character, “but there’s also so much that’s universal: so much of that visual style of comedy is available for anyone from eight to 80 to enjoy. There’s something that’s completely approachable about the comedy for anyone from any background,” reckons Tom.
Playing Richard Hannay takes Tom’s acting into new territory. “I haven’t done anything like this before; it’s been very new for me though I always felt I had a character like this in my locker, having an affinity for such characters from growing up loving Blackadder, which was one of my reference points – loosely – for the role,” he says.
“I haven’t had the chance before to play someone like Hannay for a sustained period, which has been great to do– and it’s also changed over time, beginning with certain intentions and then you do 120 shows, and it becomes a process of trial and error, where the audience somewhat guides you in certain decisions. Instinctively you learn what seems to be working better.”
To finish, the subject matter turned to Tom playing Prince Andrew from the age of 22 to 32 in The Crown, against the backdrop of the “Epstein Scandal” playing out across the media. “I didn’t really have to engage with it,” he says. “To be honest, it was surreal. The Newsnight special [the Emily Maitlis interview] happened at that time, and I made a point of not watching it.
“But doing The Crown was a great experience and I was incredibly lucky to work with the people I did.”
The 39 Steps, cutting a dash at Grand Opera House, York, July 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Ayres Extemporae: Picked by reviewer Steve Crowther and the judges alike for the first prize in the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition
THIS seriously prestigious biennial competition at the National Centre for Early Music showcased an outstanding concert of “emerging talent in the world of music”. Although having just quoted from the informative programme, the eight ensembles seemed pretty much “emerged” to my ears.
The first to perform were Trio Altizans (The Netherlands): Eriko Nagayama, violin; Antonio Pellegrino, violoncello; Agata Sorotokin, fortepiano.
THEIR programme, entitled Geister Medley, opened with the Largo Assai Ed Espressivo from Beethoven’s Piano Trio no. 5 in D major, op. 70 no. 1. The Trio captured the spooky, impressionistic tone of the movement. The work is nicknamed ‘the Ghost Trio’ (a response by Carl Czerny to this eerie middle movement).
Trio Altazans: “Performance was focused, lively and the knitting together of different themes worked well”
The performance reminded me how Gothic the music is – creepy bass tremolos in the piano etc. The fragmentary motifs, harmonies that had an instability – quite modern stuff really, but they made a convincing narrative throughout.
From Beethoven to Schubert and the last movement Allegro moderato from the great Piano Trio no. 2 in E flat major, D. 929. I thought the performance was focused, lively and the knitting together of different themes worked well, as did the closing triumphant ending. Not sure of the “early music” label here but I enjoyed it none the less.
Ensemble Bastion, from Switzerland
Ensemble Bastion (Switzerland): Maruša Brezavšček, recorder; Martin Jantzen, viola da gamba; Elias Conrad, theorbo; Mélanie Flores, harpsichord.
NOW this programme, entitled Les Goûts Réunis: The United Musical Tastes “takes its name from a collection of suites by François Couperin, reflecting the high-Baroque period’s rivalry between the musical centres of Italy and France” (programme note).
The programme opened with François Couperins Échos from his Concerts Royaux. I was impressed by the stylish ornamentation and the instinctive engagement between the players. The echoes, or echo effects, were charming.
Ensemble Bastion: “Stylish ornamentation and the instinctive engagement between the players”
Arcangelo Corelli’s Sonata IV in F major, op. 5 was originally ornament-free until composer Johan Helmich Roman (among others) had his say. This was indeed ornament-rich and a joy to listen to.
They closed with Georg Philipp Telemann’s Sonata a Flute Dolce, Dessus de Viole e Basse. This was joy too, the slow movement so gently teased out. But it was the clear canonic dialogue throughout that stayed with me.
[hanse]Pfeyfferey, from Germany. Picture: Vasilisa Gorbacheva
[hanse]Pfeyfferey (Germany): Laura Dümpelmann, shawms; Lilli Pätzold, cornetto; Alexandra Mikheeva, slide trumpet, trombone; Emily Saville, trombone.
WHO could object to an early music programme entitled: Party Like It’s 1524. Their programme note didn’t start promisingly: “In addition to our unwavering commitment to authentically merge musical practice with associated musicology and theory…”
But it perked up with “…we draw inspiration from the timeless human need to enjoy good company, food, drink and music”. Amen to that.
[hanse]Pfeyfferey: “Performers radiated energy playing the music”
I had never heard of the composer Ludwig Senfl so I did a bit of Google listening. I thought the conservative sacred music was quietly impressive, but it was the secular, humanist songs that we were treated to here.
These were full of life and the performers radiated energy playing the music. So too the Improvisations. The performances so seductive, so infectious and, in the case of Isaac’s Lala Höhö and Zwischen Berg Und Tiefe Tal genuinely touching.
P.S. Ludwig Senfl studied with the great Heinrich Isaac and lost a toe in a hunting exercise. Now there’s one for the pub quiz.
Apollo’s Cabinet
Apollo’s Cabinet (UK): Teresa Wrann, recorder; Thomas Pickering, harpsichord, traverso, recorder; David Lopez Ibanez, violin; Harry Buckoke, viola da gamba; Jonatan Bougt, theorbo, Baroque guitar; Daniel Watt, percussion.
THIS programme was entitled Musical Wanderlust: Charles Burney’s European Travels In Pursuit Of Harmony. Mercifully this concert was far more enjoyable than the turgid description would have had us believe. It was an attractive musical travelogue around pre-Brexit Europe through the eyes, ok the diaries, of Charles Burney.
Apollo’s Cabinet: “Attractive musical travelogue around pre-Brexit Europe”
I absolutely loved the whole set. It reminded me a little of Red Priest, who might just have been an influence. This was revisiting Vivaldi, Buxtehude and the holiest of spiritual grails, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, from another perspective; a completely bonkers one.
Of the four prizes on offer this early music band must surely be a contender for one of them. “The most fun-filled, brilliantly whacky prize goes to…”
A PROGRAMME entitled Warblings Of Paradise didn’t seem terribly inviting. Thankfully we had a note of explanation: “In Dante’s Paradise, music is the supreme joy of mankind. The pieces we are going to perform have both sacred and secular aspects and will give full rein to the sounds of heavenly instruments; harps, lutes, vielles and voice will alternate and blend to celebrate the harmony of souls.”
THE recital opened with Guiraut Riquier’s Aisi Com Es Sobronrada (from Chansonnier Provençal – La Vallière). This is intended to be a “declaration of love made to the Virgin”. And yet…tenor Matthieu Romanens was himself seductively serenaded by Aliénor Wolteche (medieval fiddle) and Mélina Perlein-Féliers (medieval harp) without, as far as I could see, much resistance. Mr Romanens has a lovely rich tenor voice with a particularly resonant lower register, which is rare.
Rubens Rosa: “A touching intimacy and a velvety richness in colour”
Following Rubens Rosa’s very engaging rustic dance, Estampie, we were back to Hail Mary, full of grace. There was a touching intimacy and a velvety richness in colour. Very enjoyable.
As indeed was Robert Morton’s instrumental N’aray Je Jamais Mieux Que J’ai, where the introduction of the viola d’arco (Elizabeth Summers) really enriched the tonal palette. Then back to Matthieu Romanens’ tenor voice in a dignified Fortuna Desperate (Anonymous). If you closed your eyes, his voice sounded more like a baritone than a tenor.
Their recital closed with a foot-tapping, rustic Laudato Sia Dio (Dindirindin). The call and response, the energy and rhythmic hemiola shifts (think Bernstein’s America) recharged the soul. Maybe.
Pseudonym, from Switzerland. Picture: Vivianne Caragea
Pseudonym (Switzerland): Liane Sadler Baroque, traverso; Maya Webne-Behrman, violin; Stephen Moran, viola da gamba; Gabriel Smallwood, harpsichord.
PROGRAMME entitled Broken Colours. The notes describe this theme as: “To showcase the wide range of colours and sonic possibilities of this instrumentation, Broken Colours draws on various collections from different composers published throughout the first decades of the seventeenth century. Together they represent a cohesive survey of the prevailing instrumental genres and compositional hallmarks of the time…”
The recital opened with Dario Castello’s Nona Sonata à Tre (from Sonate Concertate In Stil Moderno, Libro Primo, 1621). To be honest I know very little about Dario Castello’s music but what I have heard I liked immensely. As the description “moderno” suggests, his music is progressive, exploring “new formal structures and means of expression” (programme note). I think this freshness did come across; the performance was tight, stylish and full of energy.
Pseudonym: “An infectious, foot-tapping pleasure”
Other Baroque pioneer composers also featured in the recital. I thought the ensemble’s performance of Tarquinio Merula’s Ballo Detto Eccardo was extremely expressive and gave Liane Sadler (traverse flute) an opportunity to shine. Which she did. Biagio Marini’s La Foscarina, Sonata a 3, Con Il Tremolo was pretty amazing too. The players really caught the inventive, expressive nature of Marini’s writing, this time giving violinist Maya Webne-Behrman an opportunity to shine, and she duly did.
The recital closed with Andrea Falconieri’s rhythmically driven Ciaconna And Pseudonym clearly enjoyed playing it as much as we did listening to it. An infectious, foot-tapping pleasure. What a way to sign off.
Ayres Extemporae standing outside St Margaret’s Church, the home of the National Centre for Early Music
UP to this point, I had forgotten that this was a competition. That was until Ayres Extemporae walked on to the stage and opened their recital with an X-rated, blistering account of Heinrich Ignaz Biber’s Sonata for violin and continuo in E minor, C.142.
Xenia Gogu Mensenin’s violin playing – technically brilliant, musically utterly hypnotic and completely fearless – immediately demanded attention. To be sure, there was some respite to be had in the beautiful Aria but this couldn’t last and didn’t; Ms Mensenin got her second wind, the violin bursting free of the constraints of the song, then regained the narrative of “torment” and headed for the finish line with indecent haste.
This was beyond ‘redemption’, nevertheless this remarkable Trio gave it their best shot with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Erbarme Dich from Ich Armer Mensch ich Sündenknecht, BWV 55 (arr. for violoncello piccolo, violin and continuo).
This wonderful aria is (obviously) from the St Matthew Passion. Erbarme Dich (Have Mercy) represents Peter’s weeping and distress at having denied knowing Jesus three times. Here the violoncello piccolo ‘sings’ the tenor aria.
Ayres Extemporae: “Performance was so moving and soul searching”
The performance by Víctor García García was very persuasive: meditative, expressive and genuinely moving. Whether it was persuasive enough, however, was to be found along the “path to forgiveness”. Once again, the Trio turned to Bach, this time the Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord in G major, BWV1027 (arr. for violoncello piccolo, violin and continuo).
In this version, “the cello piccolo takes the role of the viola da gamba, and the violin and the cello play respectively the right and left hand of the harpsichord part” (programme note).
The E minor Andante had a haunting quality. The violoncello (Teresa Madeira) gracefully weaving through the arpeggiated progressions. The performance was so moving and soul searching. The final Allegro moderato was a dance, a bourrée and fugal.
Thus, giving all three of these outstanding performers the chance to show how well they intuitively understood and communicated this music. A real joy and, to quote Tina Turner, Simply The Best?
Before I typed this review, I thought I knew who the winner might be. I just wished I had behaved like a true, blue-rinsed politician and popped out to place a bet before the coronation.
Friedrichs Nebelmeer Ensemble, from Switzerland
Friedrichs Nebelmeer Ensemble (Switzerland): Pablo Gigosos, flute; Mei Kamikawa, oboe; Claudia Reyes, clarinet; Andrés Sanchez, horn; Angel Alvarez, bassoon.
HAVING lived and breathed contemporary music for most of my adult life, I am not a great fan of the 20th-century Wind Quintet repertoire (Birtwistle and the tedious Schoenberg works spring to mind, and back out again). But this Baroque repertoire of Franz Danzi, Giuseppe Cambini and Anton Reicha played by the charmingly enthusiastic Friedrichs Nebelmeer Ensemble was just delightful.
We were told to “expect some fun after a seven-hour concert’”, and we did. The problem is, however, that zippy exchanges – the musical flair in, for example, the Finale: Allegretto of Reicha’s Wind Quintet in E flat major, op. 88 no. 2 – can mask the technical brilliance.
This closing movement is an energetic rondo and all of the performers embraced the solos on offer. I loved the intimacy of the sound the Ensemble generated.
The Larghetto Sostenuto Ma Con Moto from Giuseppe Cambini’s Wind Quintet no. 2 in D minor was so sweetly sung; it’s not often you hear a wind quintet blending as beautifully as this. Again, so intimate but this time with a velvety sensuous colouring.
Their recital actually opened with Franz Danzi’s Allegrettos no’s I and IV from his Wind Quintet in G minor, op. 56 no. 2, a work dedicated to Anton Reicha. Crisp staccato playing, perfect handovers of the musical motifs, lovely clear balance; and yes, it radiated enjoyment.
I do have critical observations and suggestions – not all the performances were uniform, at times not all the balance was quite as democratic as it might have been, and there were a few slips.
Glittering performance: [hanse]Pfeyffereyplaying at the NCEM
But given the quality of these Young Artists and the fact that they had two days of “informal recitals” with completely different programmes and in the company of Steven Devine, then discretion and humility are surely the order of the day.
But I will say that the programme notes, although informative and indeed often insightful, veered towards the academic, seldom a good thing, and a bit dull.
Not surprisingly the “tell us a bit about yourselves and your programme” bit was a distraction at best. To this end, I would suggest drawing from the “everyday” anecdote of Steven Devine himself.
Here Mr Devine took us through a typical York ginnel to the Three Legged Mare pub. There was a folk-blues band playing and he popped in for a pint. Through the window, he noticed some members of an ensemble looking in. He bought them a drink and left. When he returned one of the players had joined in.
One can take many things from this lovely account: that this could never, ever happen at a “classical” music concert; that this musical experience belongs to the working class, pop, rock, folk, blues culture, or that the beer in the Three Legged Mare is decidedly better than that on offer at the NCEM.
“It was wonderful to welcome these eight ensembles from the UK and Europe to what is always an enriching experience,” says York Early Music Festival administrative director Delma Tomlin
For me, it is about the love and importance of music and music making. And what an enriching experience this is. Bob Dylan and John Adams are both great composers, just different.
Anyway, back to the competition. A panel of experts in the field of Early Music, Bart Demuyt, Philip Hobbs, Elizabeth Kenny, Lionel Meunier and Emily Worthington judged that Ayres Extemporae were the winners of this prestigious York Early Music International Young Artists Competition.
Additional prizes went to: [Hanse]Pfeyfferey (Cambridge Early Music), Ensemble Bastion (EUBO Development Trust) and Apollo’s Cabinet (Friends of York Early Music Festival).
So, what a way to close this remarkable festival: with renewal. Talking of which, none of this could happen without the dedication, professionalism and creativity of Delma Tomlin MBE, director of the internationally acclaimed National Centre of Early Music (NCEM) and the York Early Music Festival.
Unfortunately, I am all out of superlatives, so how about “National Treasure”? Sorry Delma.
Belgian trio Ayres Extemporae win the 2024 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition
Winners Ayres Extemporae with the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition judging panel
AYRES Extemporae were awarded first prize at the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition last Saturday, against fierce competition from seven fellow international ensembles from across Europe.
The Belgian-based ensemble receives a professional recording contract from Linn Records, a £1,000 cash prize, a future paid engagement with the York Early Music Festival and recording opportunities with BBC Radio 3.
During the two days before the competition, each ensemble presented an informal recital at the National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, with the aim of giving the musicians the opportunity to adapt to the performance space and become accustomed with festival audience members in advance of the final.
These groups were selected from a pool of 48 ensembles from across the world and were judged by an international jury of Bart Demuyt, director of AMUZ/Alamire; Philip Hobbs, from Linn Records; Elizabeth Kenny, internationally acclaimed lutenist; Lionel Meunier, director of Vox Luminis, and Emily Worthington, clarinettist and University of York lecturer.
The competition provided a spectacular finale to the ten-day festival, which connected old friends and new through concerts, recitals and workshops staged in a variety of historic venues around the city.
The recitals from this year’s final are available to watch on demand at ncem.co.uk and on the NCEM’s YouTube channel and edited highlights will be shared on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on Sunday, November 3 2024.
Friends of York Early Music Festival Award winners Apollo’s Cabinet with festival administrative director Delma Tomlin, right
Ayres Extemporae are: Moldovan-Spanish violinist Xenia Gogu, Spanish cellist Víctor García García, playing on a five-string cello piccolo, and Portuguese cellist Teresa Madeira.
Apollo’s Cabinet, from the UK, scooped the Friends of York Early Music Festival Award, a cash prize of £1,000; Ensemble Bastion won a cash prize of £1,000, endowed by the EUBO Development Trust, for the Most Promising Young Artists specialising in the Baroque repertoire, and [hanse] Pfeyfferey scooped the Cambridge Early Music Prize, which includes a paid performance in Cambridge.
The 2024 finalists were: Apollo’s Cabinet (UK); Ayres Extemporae (Belgium); Ensemble Bastion (Switzerland); Friedrichs Nebelmeer Ensemble (Switzerland); [hanse] Pfeyfferey (Germany); Pseudonym (Switzerland); Rubens Rosa (Switzerland) and Trio Altizans (Netherlands).
The 2024 competition was presented by Steven Devine,harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor and director of orchestral, choral and opera repertoire, and former artistic advisor to the York Early Music Festival.
At the end of the competition, Philip Hobbs, from Linn Records, who chaired the judging panel, said: “This competition is definitely one of the musical highlights of the year and Linn Records is very proud to continue this important relationship with the York Early Music Festival and with the National Centre for Early Music.
Pseudonym musiciansMaya Webne-Behrman, violin, and Liane Sadler Baroque, traverso, performing in the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition
“Today’s concert illustrated an array of extraordinarily inventive musical talent, and I would like to congratulate all eight ensembles who performed.”
Delma Tomlin, NCEM director and festival administrative director, said: “It was wonderful to welcome these eight ensembles from the UK and Europe to what is always an enriching experience and an amazing opportunity to share music and enhance their skills.
“I would like to thank everyone who appeared today, once again the standard of performance was of the highest calibre. I would also like to say a huge thank-you to our panel of judges for their hard work and support and also to Steven Devine for his expertise and invaluable help.”
Winners Ayres Extemporae said: “We’re absolutely delighted and honoured to receive this amazing prize and would like to thank everyone who has supported us – our time in York has been a wonderful experience and everyone has been super-friendly.
“We’d like to thank all the other ensembles for their encouragement, friendship and brilliant musicianship, it’s been a real pleasure spending time with the other musicians. We’re really looking forward to returning to York and recording with Linn Records.”
York Early Music Festival celebrates at York Mansion House
Utopia: Flanders musicians played at National Centre for Early Music, York
THE 2024 York Early Music Festival enjoyed not one, but two celebrations in the presence of the Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Margaret Wells, last week.
Young musicians from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and even Mexico arrived in York to take part in the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, held in the city every two years.
The musicians were welcomed with a drinks reception and enjoyed a tour of York Mansion House with the Lord Mayor, who revealed some of the resplendent Georgian building’s hidden secrets.
The next day, the Delegation of Flanders to the UK hosted a reception to mark Flanders Day – a major national holiday in the Belgian region – in celebration of a new partnership with the York Early Music Festival, in association with the Alamire Foundation and AMUZ, with support from the Flanders government.
Bart Brosius, General Representative of Flanders in the UK and Ireland, welcomed the delegation to York and Bart Demuyt, from the Alamire Foundation in Flanders, extended a warm thank-you to the National Centre for Early Music director Delma Tomlin for her continued hard work, giving aspiring young musicians from the UK and beyond the encouragement and recognition they deserve.
Guests included: York Central MP Rachael Maskell; Claire Douglas, Leader of City of York Council; Joan Concannon, University of York; Philip Nelson, Harrowells Solicitors; Adam Butterworth, Department for Business and Trade, and many other guests from the Flanders delegation.
Audiences enjoyed concerts by two ensembles from Flanders, Utopia at the National Centre for Early Music and Cappella Pratensis & I Fedeli at York Minster.
From Flanders with early music: Cappella Pratensis performed at York Minster
Shed Seven: Playing York Museum Gardens as the homecoing fulcrum of their 30th anniversary celebrations
AFTER a first ever number one album in January, Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary celebrations hit a homecoming peak with tomorrow (19/7/2024) and Saturday’s sold-out concerts at Futuresound’s inaugural Live At York Museum Gardens festival.
“I’d be quite happy for it chuck it down all week, but then NOT,” says lead singer Rick Witter. “Obviously, it is what it is, but it does make for a better atmosphere if you don’t have to contend with rain.
“We have thought before of selling [Chasing] rainbow-coloured umbrellas, but unfortunately at indoor gigs they’d be classified as offensive weapons!”
Good news for Rick and Shed-heads alike, the weather forecast suggests dry conditions will prevail on both nights, when Shed Seven will perform on the concrete concourse in front of the Yorkshire Museum, rather than against the St Mary’s Abbey backdrop once favoured by the York Mystery Plays.
“We’ll be facing the river [Ouse], with the riverside walk being cordoned off, so I imagine having 4,000 people crammed into the space each night will look amazing,” says Rick, as the Sheds look forward to playing the gardens where The Press first photographed the band after they signed to Polydor Records in late-1993.
“As a small band from York, we’ve managed to close the river for two nights, so it’s going to be a huge York event. We’ve been reminiscing about when we were 13-14, sitting in the Museum Gardens with music blasting out of our ghetto blasters, so it will feel weird but lovely this weekend for me and Paul [guitarist Paul Banks] and Tom [bassist Tom Gladwin].”
If that sepia-faded photo-shoot for The Press does not spring immediately to his mind, “I did see a picture of us in 1992 at the time of the Fibbers’ Battle of the Bands. We looked so hopeful, so youthful. We still do!” says Rick, as whippet-slim as ever at 51.
Shed Seven, who now feature Rob ‘Maxi ‘Maxfield on drums and Tim Wills on guitars and keys, rather than founder members Alan Leach and Joe Johnson, spent last weekend rehearsing intensely for this week’s shows.
“We’re definitely going to mix it up a little bit with the two sets, as we’re in the fortunate position of having too many songs. Some will be played on Friday and not Saturday and vice versa, so those who’ve booked for both nights are in for a treat,” says Rick. “We’ll be cramming in as much as we can into one hour 50 minutes each night.”
Special guests are promised too, but without giving names away, Rick does say: “If you look back to our album that came out in January [A Matter Of Time], we had several guests on that record, and I think you might get to see some of those people in our sets.
“Obviously, Pete [Peter Doherty, of The Libertines] will be in the ‘field’ with us on both nights as a support act, so it would be rude not to perform Throwaways (Witter and Doherty’s album-closing duet] with him.”
Will Happy Mondays’ Rowetta make an appearance for In Ecstasy or Reverend And The Makers’ Laura McClure join the Sheds for Tripping With You? Wait and see, but definitely a York choir will be participating.
“Me and Paul visited our old school last Thursday – Huntington School – for the first time in an awfully long time, which felt lovely but a bit odd as a 51-year-old man being back in the classroom! We’d reached out to the school hoping for a mixture of age groups, boys and girls, and it turns out there’s a choir of 60, so we’ve settled for having 20 on each night.” Which song, Rick? Not telling!
New band members Maxfield, from Manchester, and Wills, from London, will be breaking new ground. “They’ve spent a lot of time with us here rehearsing, but this will be the first time they’ve performed with us in our home city, so that’ll be a big moment for York,” says Rick. “And they’ve both talked about moving to York.”
Likewise, Shed Seven will be playing to more than a home crowd. “It’s just amazing that people from all over the country have bought tickets for these shows, so we’ll have 8,000 people descending on our lovely city, filling our bars and hotels,” says Rick.
The 30th anniversary celebrations do not stop there. “The funny thing is, we’re only half way through. I was speaking to Paul about what we might not be able to fit into the sets from A Matter Of Time, and only six months after its release, it’s almost as if we’re having to put a number one album to one side already, as we’re putting so much into our next album.”
Liquid Gold, an album of orchestral re-workings of 12 Shed Seven hits and live favourites, reimagined by the band in collaboration with arrangers Fiona Brice and Michael Rendall, will be released on September 27.
“We’re very excited about this album coming out to mark 30 years,” says Rick. “Only next year can we sit back and reflect on what we achieved this year.”
Still to come in 2024 are multiple in-store appearances to promote Liquid Gold, with yet more dates soon to be added to the schedule, followed by the 30th Anniversary Tour in the traditional Shedcember slot in November and December, with Yorkshire gigs at Sheffield Octagon, (November 14), Victoria Theatre, Halifax (November 18) Hull City Hall, November 19, and Leeds O2 Academy (November 30).
Witter and Banks will see out the year with a brace of intimate acoustic concerts at Huntington Working Men’s Club, York, on December 21 and 22. Sold out, of course.
Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Jack Savoretti, tonight; Shed Seven, Friday and Saturday. Gates open at 5pm each evening. Box office: seetickets.com/event/jack-savoretti/york-museum-gardens/2929799.
Thursday bill: Ellur, 5.45pm to 6.15pm; Benjamin Francis Leftwich, 6.30pm to 7.15pm; Foy Vance, 7.45pm to 8.30pm; Jack Savoretti, 9p, to 10.30pm.
Friday bill: Serotones (Duke Witter’s band), 5.45pm to 6.15pm; Lottery Winners, 6.35pm to 7.05pm; Peter Doherty, 7.25pm to 8.10pm; Shed Seven, 8.40pm to 10.30pm.
Saturday bill: Apollo Junction, 5.45pm to 6.15pm; Brooke Combe, 6.35pm to 7.05pm; Peter Doherty, 7.25pm to 8.10pm; Shed Seven, 8.40pm to 10.30pm.
James: “Still refulgent with fresh ideas, still adventurous both musically and artistically after 41 years”. Picture: Paul Dixon
JAMES once gave a live album – recorded in lonesome pre-Sit Down success days at Bath’s Moles Club – the acerbic moniker of One Man Clapping.
Amid much lamenting, touring circuit institution Moles closed last December, declared insolvent, but Johnny Yen from that November 1988 set list lives on. Now jauntily opening James’s Live In 2024 show, the band on the crest of the crest of a second wave after re-forming in 2007 and topping the charts with a studio album for the first time with Yummy, their 18th, in April. Rather more than one man clapping now.
They may be a Manchester band – first championed by fellow Mancunian Morrissey, sporting a James T-shirt in their early, mutually vegetarian days – but Tim Booth is a son of Clifford, Boston Spa, and Leeds is always a homecoming gig for the Yorkshire frontman now resident in Costa Rica, Central America.
He even commented on Leeds needing “cheering up”, without directly mentioning yet more Wembley woe that had befallen his ever-damned Leeds United a fortnight earlier.
Yet if you could choose one band to blow away those blues, while addressing themes of AI technology, the fragile climate and tinderbox American politics on their latest album, all the while cherishing the abiding wonder of love, flowers and butterflies, then James would be that band. Still refulgent with fresh ideas, still adventurous both musically and artistically after 41 years.
Under normal band parlance, you might call them “veterans” or a “heritage act”, but James keep reinventing themselves, reinvigorating their ever-expanding catalogue. Last year, for example, their James Lasted Orchestral Tour rolled into York Barbican with a 22-piece orchestra, Orca 22, and the eight-strong Manchester Inspirational Voices gospel choir.
A year on in Leeds, four of those choir members complemented the nine-piece line-up of James, wherein vocalist Chloe Alper, once part of Riot grrrl punk band Period Pains, and second drummer Debbie Knox-Hewson have settled in so thrillingly.
Studio Fury’s cover design for James’s 18th studio album, the chart-topping Yummy
In the only concession to ageing, Booth apologised that he and trumpet player Andy Diagram, as dandy as ever in black skirt, would not be clambering up the rafters to perform from the gods, as had long been their custom.
Nevertheless, now he’s 64, Booth still revelled in dancing as if in a loose-limbed trance, and still went crowd surfing too, burly lads at the front quick to give him a helping hand to set him on his way. His megaphone made its customary rallying appearance too, in the polemical Mobile God.
Like the band line-up, a James gig is built around a free-flowing fusion of old and new. On the one hand, Booth, Diagram, drummer David Baynton-Power, bassist Jim Glennie, multi-instrumentalist Saul Davies and seasoned keyboardist Mark Hunter and guitarist Adrian Oxaal, together with the surfing and dancing, the anthems and the crowd singalongs.
On the other, Alper’s sublime singing and Knox-Hewson’s percussive exuberance, eight out of the 12 new songs on Yummy being road-tested, and crucially, the ever-changing, ever-prescient images on the three screens that matched each song’s theme, whether with butterfly beauty, futuristic foreboding, warped psychedelics or AI manipulation.
Every last detail had significance: not least the pile of junked TV sets that accompanied Booth’s lambasting of our destructive age “f***ing up the world for the generations still to come” in his intro to Our World.
In advance, the audience had been asked to “kindly refrain from using your phones during the show”, and Booth later warned that if he faced a bank of cameras, it would hinder his performance.
These days, such a request is akin to King Canute seeking to turn back the tide, but for those who desisted, the reward came with his advice, “This is the one to film”, before the extraordinary X-ray/robot/AI graphics for Mobile God, a sandwich-board warning of a future-rock song about the perils of mobile technology.
The poster for James’s Live In 2024 tour
Over a two-hour set of 20 songs, a James gig carries the promise of the familiar – Booth’s innate sense of theatre from student drama days, a steady stream of hits, such as Just Like Fred Astaire, Tomorrow and Come Home, and the audience taking over the singing as all the band gathers in line on the stage apron for the set-closing Sometimes (Lester Piggott) – peppered with the unexpected.
This came in the form of the debut live performance of Butterfly and tour debut of Out To Get You, and in the band’s chemistry that lets them ride on “the moment”. In this case, a free-wheeling coda from Saul Davies, James’s marrow to the Bad Seeds’ Warren Ellis, violin in excelsis in Tomorrow. His dad, equally dapper in cap and buttoned coat in the band guest seats, remarked afterwards that he had never seen Saul extend that solo for so long, as much flare as flair.
Unpredictable too was the encore, by now up against the clock to meet the regulation 10.30pm cut-off point of no return. Born Of Frustration had to be jettisoned, but mystical Yummy fan favourite Way Over Our Head swayed yummily, Beautiful Beaches was irresistibly melodious yet melancholic, an eco-warning fashioned in the devastating heat of climate change, and just when Sit Down was hitting its stride, a medical emergency brought everything to a stand.
Emergency over, Sit Down stood up to its usual singalong finale, orchestrated as ever by a wonder-struck Booth, but would extra time be permitted? Oh yes, it would, and it felt like a last-minute winning goal as Laid rushed into saucy commotion.
The best laid schemes for summer satisfaction should include heading to the East Coast on July 26 for James’s fourth outdoor outing at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, following similar seaside jaunts in 2025, 2018 and 2021, with room to sit down or stand up (box office: ticketmaster.co.uk/event/35006049E46E32D3). No doubt the set list will be different again.
Set list, Leeds First Direct Arena, June 8
Johnny Yen; Waltzing Along; Our World; Rogue; Life’s A F***ing Miracle; Just Like Fred Astaire; Ring The Bells; Better With You; Butterfly (live debut); Getting Away With It (All Messed Up); Shadow Of A Giant; Out To Get You (tour debut); Mobile God; Tomorrow; Come Home; Sometimes (Lester Piggott).
Encore: Way Over Our Head; Beautiful Beaches; Sit Down; Laid.
Kiefer Moriarty with fellow cast members Ambika Sharma, left, and Maria Gray in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
YORK Theatre Royal’s Around The World In 80 Days keeps coming around again, returning this summer for a third run, this time under a new-ish title.
Adapted and directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster from Jules Verne’s 1873 novel, the circus-themed production was first staged under Covid social-distancing restrictions on a circus trailer, visiting playing fields on all four corners of York in 23 days in August 2021.
That tour concluded in the Theatre Royal main house, where the Theatre Royal’s subsequent co-production with Tilted Wig opened its 2023 tour of England, Scotland and Wales on home turf in early February.
Now Forster’s adaptation returns with a new name, Around The World In 80 Days-Ish, and a new cast of Kiefer Moriarty as circus Ringmaster and globe-travelling Phileas Fogg, York actress Maria Gray as world record-chasing American investigative journalist Nellie Bly and Acrobat, Ambika Sharma as Aouda and Trick Rider, David Abecassis as Passepartout and Clown and completing the cast is Rowan Armitt-Brewster as detective Fix and Knife Thrower.
“The first time, it was right off the back of Covid, staged mainly on school playing fields, ending with the last four days inside the Theatre Royal, all with social distancing,” recalls Juliet. “Then we had only the first three days of the tour, so we feel it was a show that we hadn’t yet fully shared with Theatre Royal audiences.
“When Paul Crewes joined as chief executive last October, he mentioned that he’d really loved the show, so now it’s back with the addition of aerial work this time, which had been too much of a complication before, when we were dependent on the Covid restrictions, but we knew it could work indoors.”
Juliet’s adaptation introduces the real-life character of young journalist Nellie Bly, who actually did circumnavigate the world and in less time than the fictional Fogg. Her version sets up the pair as rival around-the-world travellers, putting the now largely forgotten Nellie Bly in the spotlight.
“Jules Verne’s story is a lot of fun as the characters race against time to complete a full circuit of the Earth, and in this version, fact and fiction also go head-to-head as Nellie Bly puts in an appearance,” says Juliet.
“It’s a joyful, very energetic, very silly and highly acrobatic re-telling of the story, delivering the kind of experience that live theatre does best.”
Crucial to the show’s success is the multi-role-playing format as the rag-tag band of travelling circus performers embarks on a daring mission to recreate the unflappable Phileas Fogg’s bid to traverse the globe in 80 days, embracing different modes of transport to navigate the frantic race. Expect aerial feats and acrobatics, hoop work and even feigned drunkenness from the versatile company
To the fore is Kiefer Moriarty’s Ringmaster and Phileas Fogg. “I saw Kiefer in Magic Goes Wrong and was looking for actors who’d been in Mischief’s ‘Go Wrong’ shows, as they understand how comedy works,” says Juliet.
“We met, he signed up, and I look forward to him bringing his own thing to his roles. He’s part of an entirely new cast, who can all bring their own angle, while keeping the DNA of what we know works well.”
Kiefer, who memorably held his breath for 12 minutes under water in Magic Goes Wrong, will be parading circus skills. “I’ve done whip-cracking skills before and I’ll be riding a mini-clown’s bike, which I rode for the first time at the press launch,” he says.
“I’ve never seen a live performance of Around The Days, but I’ve seen the David Niven film, which was my father’s favourite film, so we watched it quite often! I saw the Jackie Chan one as a kid, which was an OK film, I suppose, as the politest way to put it, and then there was the David Tennant one for the BBC that I haven’t seen. But performing in it will be my first live experience of it.”
He loves the thrill of live performance, whether in Magic Goes Wrong or now in Around The World In 80 Days-ish. “That’s where the magic happens, when the choreography is going right, the magic is going right, and I really love the choreography, getting involved with getting it in place,” says Kiefer.
“I’ve seen the trailer for this show [from the past productions], and there are some amazing set-pieces in it that I can’t wait to do.”
Around The World In 80 Days-Ish, York Theatre Royal, July 18 to August 3. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 2pm, July 24, 25, 29, August 1; 2.30pm, July 20, 27, August 3; 5.30pm, July 23, 30; 6.30pm, July 19, 26, August 2; 7pm, July 18, 24, 25, 31, August 1; 7.30pm, July 20, 27, August 3. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Shed Seven: Playing sold-out concerts in York Museum Gardens on Friday and Saturday
SHED Seven’s 30th anniversary open-air concerts are the headline act on Charles Hutchinson’s arts and culture bill for the week ahead. Look out for global travels, Gershwin celebrations and a Hitchcockian comic caper too.
York festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Jack Savoretti, tomorrow; Shed Seven, Friday and Saturday
ANGLO-ITALIAN singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti opens the inaugural Live At York Museum Gardens festival at the 4,000-capacity gardens tomorrow, when the support acts will be Northern Irish folk-blues troubadour Foy Vance, York singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich and fast-rising Halifax act Ellur.
Both of Shed Seven’s home-city 30th anniversary gigs have sold out. Expect a different set list each night, special guests and a school choir, plus support slots for The Libertines’ Peter Doherty, The Lottery Winners and York band Serotones on Friday and Doherty, Brooke Combe and Apollo Junction on Saturday. Sugababes’ festival-closing concert on July 21 was cancelled in April. Box office: seetickets.com/event/jack-savoretti/york-museum-gardens/2929799.
Claire Martin: Celebrating Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue at Ryedale Festival. Picture: Kenny McCracken
Jazz gig of the week: Ryedale Festival, Claire Martin and Friends, Rhapsody In Blue – A Gershwin Celebration, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
LONDON jazz singer Claire Martin leads her all-star line-up in a celebration of George Gershwin’s uplifting music and the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody In Blue, a piece that changed musical history.
In the band line-up will be pianist Rob Barron, double bassist Jeremy Brown, drummer Mark Taylor, trumpet player Quentin Collins and saxophonist Karen Sharp. Box office: themiltonrooms.com or ryedalefestival.com.
Maria Gray in the role of The Acrobat in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Theatrical return of the week: Around The World In 80 Days-ish, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow to August 3
PREMIERED on York playing fields in 2021, revived in a touring co-production with Tilted Wig that opened at the Theatre Royal in February 2023, creative director Juliet Forster’s circus-themed adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel returns under a new title with a new cast.
Join a raggle-taggle band of circus performers as they embark on their most daring feat yet: to perform the fictitious story of Phileas Fogg and his thrilling race across the globe. But wait? Who is this intrepid American travel writer, Nellie Bly, biting at his heels? Will an actual, real-life woman win this race? Cue a carnival of delights with tricks, flicks and brand-new bits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Katie Leckey and Jack Mackay: Co-artistic directors of Griffonage Theatre, alternating roles in Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter
Fringe show of the week: Griffonage Theatre in The Dumb Waiter, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Griffonage Theatre follow up February’s debut production of Patrick Hamilton’s Rope with Harold Pinter’s 1957 one-act play The Dumb Waiter, directed and designed by Wilf Tomlinson.
Two hitmen, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment, but why is a dumbwaiter in there, when the basement does not appear to be in a restaurant? To make matters worse, the loo won’t flush, the kettle won’t boil, and the two men are increasingly at odds with each other. Unique to this production, actors Jack Mackay and Katie Leckey will alternate the roles of Ben and Gus at each performance. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
One of Anna Matyus’s artworks on show at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Anna Matyus, Helmsley Arts Centre, until August 9
ANNA Matyus’s work explores the powerful spiritual resonance of historical sacred buildings and their setting in the landscape. Using etching and collagraph printmaking techniques and a colourful palette, she seeks to bring to life the powerful geometry of the often-faded motifs and time- worn patterns and symbols of historic artefacts found in the masonry and ancient tiles of these sacred sites.
“My final prints explore and record the dynamic rhythms of three-dimensional architectural form, layered with their decorative and symbolic adornment in a graphic expression of awe and wonder,” she says.
Gary Louris: The Jayhawks’ singer, guitarist and songwriter plays solo at The Crescent on Saturday, York. Picture: Steve Cohen
American solo act of the week: Gary Louris, of The Jayhawks, supported by Dave Fiddler, The Crescent, York, Saturday, 7.30pm
OVER three decades, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Gary Louris has co-led Minneapolis country rock supremos The Jayhawks with Mark Olson, as well as being a member of alt.rock supergroup Golden Smog, forming Au Pair with North Carolina artist Django Haskins in 2015 and releasing two solo albums, 2008’s Vagabonds and 2021’s Jump For Joy.
He has recorded with acts as diverse as The Black Crowes, Counting Crows, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Roger McGuinn, Maria McKee, Tift Merritt and The Wallflowers too. As an alternative to the sold-out Sheds on Saturday, look no further than this American rock luminary. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Cutting a dash but in a hurry: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
Comedy play of the week: The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, July 23 to July 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
PATRICK Barlow’s award-garlanded stage adaptation of The 39 Steps has four actors playing 139 roles between them in 100 dashing minutes as they seek to re-create Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller while staying true to John Buchan’s 1915 book.
Tom Byrne – Falklands War-era Prince Andrew in The Crown – plays on-the-run handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
James: Playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time on July 26. Picture: Paul Dixon
Coastal gig of the week: James, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26, gates 6pm
JAMES follow up Scarborough appearances in 2015, 2018 and 2021 by continuing that three-year cycle in 2024, on the heels of releasing the chart-topping Yummy, their 18th studio album, in April.
“I’m very pleased that we will be playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer – our fourth time in fact,” says bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come. It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” Support acts will be Reverend And The Makers, from Sheffield, and Nottingham indie rock trio Girlband!. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/james.
Katie Leckey: Alternating the roles of Ben and Gus with Jack Mackay in Griffonage Theatre’s The Dumb Waiter. York-based actor and director, originally from Belfast. Co-founder and co-artistic director of Griffonage Theatre, studying MA Theatre-Making at University of York. Loves exploring the absurd and the obscure through clowning, physical theatre and snappy dialogue. Excited to make acting debut for Griffonage, having had a blast directing Patrick Hamilton’s Rope earlier this year
YORK company Griffonage Theatre follow up February’s production of Patrick Hamilton’s Rope with Harold Pinter’s 1957 one-act play The Dumb Waiter at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from Thursday to Saturday.
Two hitmen, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment, but why is a dumbwaiter in there, when the basement does not appear to be in a restaurant? To make matters worse, the loo won’t flush, the kettle won’t boil, and the two men are increasingly at odds with each other.
Unique to this madcap/macabre production, directed and designed by Wilf Tomlinson, actors Jack Mackay and Katie Leckey will alternate the roles of Ben and Gus at each performance.
Here, co-artistic directors Jack and Katie and fellow University of York student Wilf answer CharlesHutchPress’s questions collectively.
What attracted Griffonage Theatre to Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter?
“Firstly, it’s a good play! Short and snappy! We were raring to get another show on in the summer, but Jack’s just finishing his third year and Katie and Wilf are finishing up an MA in Theatre-Making.
“Rope was a very long and involved process, so we were looking for something a little slimmer and lighter that we could perform while our schedules were so busy. We wanted to have the chance to really dive into something in detail and we felt like this play, being one of the most well-known two-handers ever, was worth a shot!
“Pinter is a giant of British theatre, and he’s part of the creative pantheon that we all love very dearly. Pinter, Beckett, Kafka, etc. – they’re our bread and butter. The phrase ‘comedy of menace’, which is very closely associated with Pinter, appealed very strongly to the kind of madcap/macabre fusion we’re trying to champion with Griffonage Theatre.
“Drawing out humour in darkness (and darkness in humour) wherever it can be found has always been part of our mission statement, so we thought one of his one-acts would be perfect. As it turns out, The Dumb Waiter might be shorter, but it’s definitely not light. We found that out quite quickly!
“Pinter is masterful with his tonal shifts: the play is hysterical one minute and really dark and gritty the next, just the way we at Griffonage like our plays. There’s humour, yes, but such a powerful sense of abstraction, confusion, and of course a very sinister element that creeps in slowly over the course of the play.
“And we’ll be switching roles every night, so the atmosphere shifts completely with every performance. We were definitely attracted to the idea of bringing something to life in a way that differs every time.
“The rehearsal process has been so rewarding in bringing that complexity to the surface. It’s been a delight to discover. Hopefully audiences experience the same kind of discovery as we did.”
“Gus is a junior hitman. He’s nervous about the job. Which is rough, because things are about to get a lot stranger,” says Griffonage Theatre’s character profile on Facebook
Pinter has come back into favour. Why?
“We feel like there’s a kind of revolutionary cynicism in Pinter’s work that’s definitely appealing to modern audiences. In a wider political context, things have been quite scary recently and are still on dark paths in various parts of the world. Authoritarianism in particular looms large.
So much of Pinter’s writing is a critique – whether directly or obliquely – of unquestioned/unquestionable authority. You can certainly read The Dumb Waiter like that, though there’s a lot more going on in there, too.
“We’re a global, social, online society now, so audiences have never been more aware of those kinds of cultural trends. They’re looking for stories that express the frustration and anxiety that they feel day-to-day, but at the same time they’re also yearning for a bit of levity. Doom and gloom is all right, but if everything’s going to hell anyway, we should probably have a laugh while it does!
“Pinter speaks very strongly to that impulse. It’s the same reason we love Beckett so much.”
What are the strengths of a short play (one act, 55 minutes) as opposed to a longer one?
“In terms of the obvious, a shorter play means that a tighter turnaround on a busy schedule isn’t so frightening. Plus, you have time to unearth the depths of the text when you’re rehearsing a one-act play.
“There’s a lot of scholarship on Pinter, and we’ve luckily had time to square the wealth of critical writing about The Dumb Waiter with our own understanding of the play.
“In more creative terms, the strengths of a one-act lie in its conciseness. It’s commonly said that the measure of a good scene is in its efficiency: its ability to convey a lot of information and emotion in a short space of time. And, of course, 55 minutes is basically the perfect amount of time to build tension without it becoming gruelling. One act, no interval, no escape. It becomes a bit of a pressure cooker. The Dumb Waiter nails that for us.”
What does an early Pinter play say to a modern audience?
“This play in particular has a lot to say about how we distract ourselves from the realities of life with oversaturated guff. These two men are involved in some very shady and violent business, but they don’t ever discuss it. Instead, they just postulate and jabber.
“Not to read into it too much, but as people living in an age of distraction, we’re dealing with a lot of the same questions that Ben and Gus have. They’re very concerned with trivia, banter, cross-talk. There’s a powerful sense of avoidance – the fear of looking danger in the eye. And yet the more it’s avoided, the greater the fear becomes.
“Ben is the senior partner. He runs things around here. Or does he? The dumbwaiter would beg to differ,” reckon Griffonage Theatre in their Facebook character profile
“Fast-talking comedies are in right now – just look at Succession – but it’s the underlying anxiety behind that fast-talking that really pushes the buttons of modern audiences. That same kind of dynamic is present in The Dumb Waiter especially. Why are we here? Why do we continue to do our jobs if we are unhappy or unsettled? Who really is upstairs?
“We are all seeking some sort of answer, but it’s all too easy to make a cuppa and chat about football or a sensationalised story the media are pushing at us rather than open that can of worms. But of course, it could mean nothing at all.
“If you could ask him, Pinter would say you have to watch the play yourself and find out what it means for you individually. We’ve taken that approach as actors/directors, interpreting it our own way, and I hope we can lead the audience to do that as well.”
On a theatrical history note, The Dumb Waiter was written in 1957 but not premiered until 1960, after both The Room and The Birthday Party. How do the plays compare?
“The Dumb Waiter is quite an unconventional play. It forms a loose trifecta with The Room and The Birthday Party, but both of those plays have coming-and-going – the injection of strangers into a familiar space. That’s the source of the menace, and along the way there’s a lot of playing with the typical comedy-of-manners scenario.
“The Dumb Waiter is not like that. It’s pure claustrophobia. It’s two men in a high-pressure environment with no option of leaving. There’s a growing and pervading sense of entrapment. Any external figures are kept deliberately shadowy, ambiguous, almost eldritch in nature.
“We’ve drawn a lot of similarities between it and Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, which is much more famously idiosyncratic, but there’s much to compare. Two men, waiting alone for someone to arrive.
“You could say it’s like Godot in a box. Perhaps that was a little harder to market than something more knowingly subversive like The Birthday Party. But it’s forged its own place as one of Pinter’s finest, if not his magnum opus.”
What is the symbolism of the dumbwaiter [a small freight elevator or lift to carry food] in The Dumb Waiter?
“We don’t want to give too much away for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it, but suffice to say that the play keeps things very ambiguous. We’ve been treating the dumbwaiter almost like a character of its own (which is helped by the fact that a real person is operating it backstage).
“There’s a nice metatextual angle there – a hidden figure manipulating the events onstage. You could see it as a representation of faceless, arbitrary authority. Its ‘dumbness’ is definitely part of that – it seems to delight in creating confusion without explanation. In terms of what it actually represents, the possibilities are endless. We hope everyone will have their own kind of reaction to it.”
Where are the “angry young men” of British playwriting today, Jack?
“They’re out there! Don’t worry about that. But it’s no secret that theatre’s in a difficult place at the moment, and the main obstacle to young people is that it’s getting increasingly more difficult to bring shows to a wider audience.
Jack Mackay: Alternating the roles of Ben and Gus with Katie Leckey in Griffonage Theatre’s The Dumb Waiter. Author, actor and theatre-maker based in York. As co-founder and co-artistic director of Griffonage Theatre, he directed their debut show Poe In Pitch Black and starred as Rupert Cadell in Rope. His debut bookl, Gloam, a horror novel for children, will be published internationally in the autumn of 2025
“A lot of it relies on marketing, which relies on funding, and funding is hard to get. But we’ve worked a lot recently with local writers – a lot of them are students like ourselves, and there’s a great deal of fire and passion and a desire to understand our world and maybe even change it.
“Katie and I are strong believers in the necessity of art as a vehicle for that. And the York theatre scene is very welcoming to new talent. We have a lot of love for Theatre@41 for that reason. Very soon we’ll be making our own original work, and it’s our mission to help provide young playwrights with a platform to get their voices heard, too.”
What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Jack?
“The alternating-roles idea started because we couldn’t choose which character we liked more, so we had the hare-brained idea of just playing both. Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller did it [in the National Theatre’s Frankenstein], so why not us?
“It certainly ramped up the challenge. But when we got into rehearsal, it developed into so much more than a gimmick. We take a character-first approach to production, so we got really into the nitty-gritty of taking apart both Ben and Gus and figuring out who they are.
“When we realised we had different ideas about that, we rejoiced. We suddenly understood that our different impulses about the way these men feel about their situation (and how much they know/understand) meant that every show would be different.
“Everything – from line delivery to the actual physical blocking onstage – changes when we swap roles. It’s a testament to Pinter’s excellence as a playwright that such a short and deceptively simple text can be so malleable.
“It’s given us a lot to chew on as performers, but it’s revealed such a fertile ground for interpretation in the text itself. It’s quite transformative.”
What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Katie?
“SO MUCH. This has been the most fascinating rehearsal process I’ve ever been a part of, as we get to see how the other person interprets the exact same character totally differently. Sometimes I’ll watch Jack make a blocking or delivery choice and think ‘Why is Gus/Ben doing that? He wouldn’t do that!’
“But then I remember that Jack’s interpretation of Gus/Ben is a completely separate entity to mine. There’s been a few times, too, where Jack has done something and I’ve loved it so much that I try to vary it and put my own character’s spin on it, to see what the outcome is.
“I think The Dumb Waiter is one of only a few plays where this technique can really be effective, as Pinter tells us so little about the men and their situation, so there’s a lot of free rein for an actor to glean what they want from each tiny, seemingly insignificant thing.
Director/designer Wilf Tomlinson. York-based theatre-maker born and raised in North Yorkshire with a background in acting and singing, The Dumb Waiter marks his professional directoral debut. Having studied collaborative devising at university, he specialises in object theatre and puppetry
“Obviously, in each variation the lines are the same, but each time we perform it, it has a completely different feeling to it, and the blocking is different too. I think this approach has enabled us to actively think about what we are guiding the audience to believe about what is happening in the play, and what it means, if anything at all.”
What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Wilf?
“From a director’s standpoint, the process of alternating roles has allowed us to create two distinct characterisations for each character. Physicalisation is distinct between each character and each actor, as a result of the differing knowledge that we decided each character has.
“Katie is a much colder and unscrupulous Ben, whereas Jack is fighting with himself the whole way through. Katie’s Gus is a bit airheaded and doesn’t catch on, whereas Jack’s gets suspicious.
“Focusing on these character distinctions from the start of the rehearsal process was effective dramaturgically in creating two entirely different performances that can be performed night to night.”
What will be your design for The Dumb Waiter, Wilf?
“Our main aim was to create an atmosphere of isolation and claustrophobia. We’ve opted for a thrust configuration and utilised the balcony space in Theatre@41’s John Cooper Studio so that some members of the audience are actually looking down, as if into a pit.
“We’ve tried to make the space seem cramped and claustrophobic for our performers, with the audience essentially as voyeurs looking in. In the same vein, I’ve tried to design the set itself in the vein of a rusty dilapidated shack, which jars with the idea that this is supposed to be a café prep room. It’s abandoned and misused: a literal black box of tension and confusion for Ben and Gus.”
What’s coming next for Griffonage Theatre?
“We’re all finishing university soon, and we’re very excited to take Griffonage to the next step, and the next step after that! We’ve recently started a Writer’s Room, where local writers can come together, share their work and learn from each other, and that’s been a really exciting development for us.
“Some are beginners looking to learn the basics; others are totally invested in performing their work and come to us for beta readers and workshopping. In 2025, we’re hoping to provide those creatives a platform to show off their work and get audience feedback. Championing people who are passionate and driven to create – that’s always been one of our main goals.
“We’re also hoping to branch out a bit and offer some acting workshops in and around York soon. Oh, of course a few plays are brewing, too. Something about a diva with no hair, and another about a spirit who’s not so good at haunting spring to mind…
“Very soon, we’re starting work on adapting, workshopping and devising something from the ground up: theatre with an ensemble focus. York’s got such a wonderful base of creative people that we just can’t wait to get better acquainted with. In the meantime, follow us at facebook.com/griffonagetheatre to keep up to date! We hope The Dumb Waiter surprises and delights.”
Griffonage Theatre in The Dumb Waiter, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
TO quote Anne-Marie Evans in the Daily Telegraph, “whereas the florilegia of the 17th century were created to portray the beauty and novelty of those plants brought back from the colonies, the modern florilegium may be seen as a conservation tool, instrumental in recording for posterity collections of plants within a chosen garden”.
Florilegium’s Le Roi s’Amuse: Music For A King’s Pleasure takes this delicate analogy, a musical journey around a musical flower garden, to “explore the intimate and elegant sound world of France in the decades around 1700 and perform music by composers known to both Louis XIV and Louis XV”.
An inspired concept that rewarded us with an impeccable concert of 18th-century French Baroque music. The concert opened with Jacques-Martin Hotteterre’s Suite in D major, and despite a gentle whinge by flautist Ashley Solomon at the 10.30am start, it was impeccable.
The opening Prelude set the tone of serious elegance and refinement. The flute playing by Mr Solomon was simply divine; phrases lovingly caressed, detail rich and polished. The Sarabande oozed charm and elegance, Menuet’s I & II were fresh and vibrant and the Brione’ Gigue (La Folichon) closed with a deliciously cute signing off.
Some of the movements were christened with titles such as Le Duc d’Orléans and Le Comte de Brionne. I can only assume these referred to courtiers from the reign of Louis XIV.
Jacques Morel’s Chaconne was great fun. It started out as a sweet Sunday morning chat with the flute and viola da gamba. The dialogue became a little more animated, competitive and virtuosic but the narrative always remained within the boundaries of decency, and they did kiss and make up at the end.
Couperin’s Unmeasured Prelude No. 13 is a work written without rhythm or metre indications. The score uses long groups of phrased whole notes, a bit like an instrumental plainchant. Anyhow, the performance was just superb; a quiet, melancholic jewel.
I haven’t heard of the composer Michel de la Barre. He wrote music for the transverse flute (no keys to cover the tone holes). The performance of his Suite No. 9 in G major was ensemble music making of the very highest order.
Marin Marais’s Suite in D minor was a tour de force performed with real, almost musically primal energy and vitality by Reiko Ichise (viola da gamba). The sound world was unlike anything else on offer: muscular, grainy lower register, biting articulation, dramatic dynamic range.
Such was the sheer physicality of the playing that even the wonderful Siobhan Armstrong’s harp accompaniment came across somewhat cowed, almost apologetic and the balance, not surprisingly, uneven.
Jacques-Martin Hotteterre’s Prelude: Pourquoy, Doux Rossignol proved to be the tenderest of love songs. The playing so refined, so sensitive.
Jean-Baptiste Barrière’s Sonata a Tre proved to be a worthy finale. Here, as ever, the playing was incisive, warm and polished. There was an encore, but unfortunately I missed the name and title of the work. It was very good, however.
Florilegium – Ashley Solomon, flute, Reiko Ichise, viola da gamba, and Siobhán Armstrong, harp – clearly are a world-class period instrument ensemble. And this insightful exploration and interpretation of the “intimate and elegant” French Baroque musical world of Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Marin Marais and their lesser-known contemporaries was an absolute joy.
The performances were invariably elegant, technically flawless and, perhaps above all, transported the listener to a quite magical place.
