York Early Music Christmas Festival: Baroque In The North, National Centre for Early Music, York, last Saturday
THE concert programme description was headed Panettone or Bûche de Noël. Now as we know, the Panettone is an Italian sweet bread or fruitcake and Bûche de Noël (also known as a Yule log) is a traditional French Christmas cake.
The underlying theme of this delicious programme was the creeping influence of the Italian Style sweeping through Europe on a stubbornly resistant French musical style. Very tasty.
The recital opened with Baroque In The North players Amanda Babington (violin), Clare Babington (cello) and David Francis (harpsichord) performing Michel-Richard Delalande’s Or Nous Dites Marie. This is a sweet traditional French Christmas song and proved to be a musically courteous welcome.
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier’s Trio in E minor (op 37 no.2) is clearly influenced by the ‘Italian’ trio sonatas. I could hear the influence of both Corelli and Vivaldi in the performance. But it is also distinctly French, for example the rich harmonic language and characteristic French melodic lines.
The playing radiated charm as well as displaying considerable Italianate agility. But the performance also hinted at tensions between the instruments and the environment: the tuning, particularly in the closing Allegro, was not always dead centre.
This was to play out quite theatrically when Amanda Babington swapped the violin for the cutest of French bagpipes, the musette, in the performance of Esprit Philippe Chédeville’s Sonatille Galant no.6.
Just as the fortunes of the instrument itself – which had a deliciously spooky nasal quality – rose and fell with the heads of the 17th and 18th century French aristocracy, so too the fortunes of the musette’s intonation seemed to be at the mercy of the environmental conditions.
Remarkably, instead of hurling the thing across the room as most of us might have been tempted to do, Ms Babington incorporated, transformed the tuning adjustments into theatre. And still delivered a tremendous, insightful performance.
Anyway, it was time for Ms Babington to take a well-earned break, which duly arrived in the form of Vivald’s Cello sonata in G minor. Clare Babington (cello) teased out a brooding melancholic quality in the opening Preludio, which then seemed to infuse the following reflective Allemanda.
The emotional core of the Sonata is very much with the Sarabanda, where highly ornamented, expressive melodic lines enriched the engagement. The role of the harpsichord here is to underpin the singing cello with ever-changing harmonic support.
Not so in the concluding Giga, where both performers clearly relished the crisp vitality of the music. The cute, punctuated signing-off was a delight.
Corelli’s Sonata IV op 5 welcomed back Amanda Babington to the stage, this time armed with a well-behaved recorder. Her performance was breath-taking. The Adagio(s) sang beautifully; the Vivace was full of warmth and wit. I particularly liked the charming, crisp musical chat between the instrumentalists in the Allegro(s). But the musical narrative was recorder-driven; exhilarating stuff.
Claude Balbastre’s La Berryer ou La Lamoignon gave harpsichordist David Francis his moment in the spotlight. The music again blended the Italian and French styles but here the brew was a slightly whacky one. Great tunes, tender moments contrasted with sudden explosions of energy and tempo. Dramatic, eccentric, and ever so gently bonkers. The playing was hypnotic.
The concert closed with two works by the Chédeville brothers, Nicholas and Esprit Philippe. Joseph Est Bien Marié (Esprit Philippe) was a lovely finale, not least as it had a fitting retreat from the stage of the truculent musette. But not before leaving a lasting impression of an adolescent rebel refusing to bow to polite performance convention in ‘Scarlatti’s’ Sonates pour les Clavecins.
Despite the repeat retuning, with David Francis ‘taking bets on the outcome’, the performance was terrific. I’m sure Monsieur Chédeville would have agreed; Senior Scarlatti might have been somewhat perplexed.
This was an eventful, brilliant and utterly rewarding concert, and one further enhanced by the quirky, informative insights shared by Amanda Babington throughout the programme.
Beth Stone and Daniel Murphy of Flutes & Frets: Sold-out opening concert today at York Early Music Christmas Festival 2023
MUSIC, Minstrels and Mystery is the theme of the York Early Music Christmas Festival 2023, running from tomorrow to December 9.
This annual celebration conjures up the spirit of Christmas past with an array of atmospheric music, primarily at the National Centre for Early Music, in the medieval St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, complemented by concerts at Bedern Hall and the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York.
Opening at the beginning of Advent, the festival features a host of world-class artists from the Early Music world, celebrating the extraordinary wealth of music associated with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, from the medieval to the baroque.
To complete the Christmas experience, many concerts take place by candlelight, with mince pies and mulled wine available at most events.
Already the festival has been previewed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune on November 26, when festival artists the Gesualdo Six spoke to Katie Derham and performed a selection of their work.
Both immersive Gesualdo Six concerts with the Fretwork Viol Consort at 6pm and 8.30pm on Saturday have sold out. Marking composer William Byrd’s 400th anniversary, Secret Byrd will theatrically intersperse Byrd’s private mass for secret worship with his virtuosic music for strings.
Sold out too are Saturday’s opening concert, European Court and Salon Music, by Flutes & Frets (Beth Stone, flute, and Daniel Murphy, lute, theorbo, guitar) at Bedern Hall at 11am, backed by funding from the European Festival Fund for Emerging Artists, and December 9’s Bach Christmas Oratorio concert at 7pm by the Yorkshire Bach Choir and Yorkshire Baroque Soloists at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall.
Festival director Delma Tomlin will host an introductory talk at Sunday’s 6.30pm concert, A Christmas Song – The “original” Messiah, by festival debutants The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen at the NCEM. The Harmonious Society’s 14 musicians and singers face a busy three days of travel, playing Canterbury on Saturday, York on Sunday and Durham on Monday.
Baroque In The North: Festive sweetmeats from Versailles to Rome on December 9 at the NCEM
Fiddlesticks, a new ensemble featuring former festival advisers Kati Debretzeni and Steven Devine, will make their festival debut too with Monday’s 7pm NCEM programme of European court music for three violins and continuo. Earlier that day, the NCEM’s youth instrumental ensemble, Minster Minstrels, will be working on Christmas repertory with Fiddlesticks in the afternoon.
Further festival highlights will be The Marian Consort, performing music written for the festive court, on Thursday and Ceruleo’s Love Restor’d, a theatrical Restoration England programme of Henry Purcell, John Blow and John Eccles works, on Friday, both at 7pm at the NCEM.
On December 9, Baroque In The North will play this festival for the first time, performing Panettone or Bûche de Noël?, Festive Sweetmeats, featuring works by Esprit-Philippe, Chédeville, Vivaldi and Corelli at the NCEM at 11am.
In addition, the Minster Minstrels will work with the Harmonious Society’s baroque trumpeter Will Russell on Sunday, while Owain Park, director of The Gesualdo Six, is inviting singers to join him for a choral workshop, designed to celebrate the music of Willam Byrd on Saturday and Sunday at Bedern Hall.
The York Early Music Festival Christmas Box Set, featuring a selection of recorded highlights from the festival, plus this year’s York Early Music Festival and Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival, is on sale now and will be available to enjoy online from December 15 to the end of January 2024. Highlights include concerts by violinist Rachel Podger and the Dunedin Consort, the Scottish baroque ensemble. The box set costs £50 or concerts can be bought individually at ncem.co.uk.
Ahead of the week of festive music, NCEM director Delma Tomlin says: “Our Christmas festival is one of the highlights of the city’s Christmas calendar. This December we are delighted to present an array of atmospheric Christmas concerts featuring music from the medieval times, through the ages and ending with Bach’s glorious Christmas Oratorio.
“The concerts are the perfect way to celebrate Yuletide and we look forward to seeing old friends and welcoming new ones at the special time of year.”
Full programme details can be found at ncem.co.uk/yemcf/.Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
The Marian Consort: Performing music composed for the festive Stuart court in For Delighting The People – A Jacobean Christmas on December 7
York Early Music Christmas Festival programme highlights
Saturday, 11am: Flutes & Frets, European Court and Salon Music, Bedern Hall, Bedern. SOLD OUT.
FLUTES, lutes, theorbo and guitar introducing music of European courts across the ages, performed by NCEM Platform Artists Beth Stone and Daniel Murphy, who received grant from European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists, leading to concerts in Antwerp, Krakow and York. Final concert of tour for young duo selected for annual International Artist Presentation in Flanders. Flutes & Frets will return to York next spring for Baroque Around The Books library tour.
Saturday, 6pm and 8.30pm, The Gesualdo Six & Fretwork Viol Consort, Secret Byrd, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate. Both SOLD OUT.
CREATED and directed by Bill Barclay, this 80-minute immersive experience marks the 400th anniversary of composer William Byrd with a mix of voices, viols and theatricality. A small number of audience members sit and stand among costumed musicians who gather by candlelight to worship in secret as Byrd’s setting of the Ordinary is mixed with his most probing instrumental works, played where the five Proper sections of the Mass would take place.
Sunday, 6.30pm, The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen, A Christmas Song – The “original” Messiah, NCEM.
PRESENTING the only surviving Nativity story in England set to music in the baroque era: the original Messiah and possibly the first oratorio in English. Full title: the anonymous Messiah. A Christ -Mass Song for Voices and Instruments, circa 1720. Complete with tuneful shepherd dialogues, the joyful song of the Virgin Mary, Three Wise Men arias and even a ‘halleluia’ chorus. Plus offertory by Prague composer Simon Brixi.
Monday, 7pm, Fiddlesticks, Three Parts on a Ground: European Court Music for three violins and continuo, NCEM
VIOLINISTS Huw Davies, Kati Debretzeni and Debbie Diamond are joined by harpsichordist Steven Devine for glorious programme of the Pachelbel Canon, a new arrangement of the Corelli ‘Christmas’ Concerto and Bach Concerto for three violins.
Thursday, 7pm, The Marian Consort, For Delighting The People – A Jacobean Christmas, NCEM
DIRECTED by Rory McCleery, one of the festival’s favourite vocal groups returns for a special seasonal programme from the Golden Age of English composers at their most unbuttoned and celebratory, featuring music written for the famously festive Stuart court. Plus more intimate, introspective sacred works by Byrd, Gibbons, Weelkes and Bull.
Friday, 7pm, Ceruleo, Love Restor’d, NCEM
IN the summer of 1660, London’s theatres are reopening after 18 long years of Puritan rule: time for one Henry Purcell – the “English Orpheus” – to make his entrance on the musical stage to lead a musical revolution and new English baroque music. Ceruleo’s programme runs the gamut of Restoration English music, encompassing some of Purcell’s most famous pieces, alongside his lesser-known works and those by John Blow and John Eccles, while also celebrating the first female stars of the English stage.
Saturday, December 9, 11am, Baroque In The North, Panettone or Bûche de Noël? Festive Sweetmeats, NCEM
THIS multi-instrumented programme by Amanda Babington (violin, recorder, musette), Clare Babington (cello) and David Francis (harpsichord) showcases their debut album, Music For French King. Be prepared to fly from Versailles to Rome with works by Esprit-Philippe and Nicholas Chédeville, Antonio Vivaldi and Arcangelo Corelli. Enjoy the Advent spirit too with a tempting set of “French Noëls”. Musette, you ask. 18th century French bagpipes.
Saturday, December 9, 7pm, Yorkshire Bach Choir & Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, Bach Christmas Oratorio, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York. SOLD OUT.
WRITTEN in 1734, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is heard rarely in its complete form, encapsulating rituals of belief, the human spirit’s diversity and the ecstatic joy in the Christmas message. Enjoy all six cantatas written for the feast days of Christmas and New Year, works that demand the largest and most spectacular orchestral forces Bach ever required. Soloists will be soprano Bethany Seymour, countertenor Robin Blaize, tenor Jonathan Hanley and bass Frederick Long.
Green Matthews: Dickens of a festive good time in A Christmas Carol In Concert
Festive folk concerts at NCEM
YULETIDE celebrations at the NCEM will be bookended by three festive folk nights: St Agnes Fountain, tonight; The Furrow Collective on December 5 and Green Matthews, December 19, all at 7.30pm.
Presented by the Black Swan Folk Club, St Agnes Fountain lines up with Chris While on vocals, guitar, bodhran, dulcimer, darbuka and percussion; Julie Matthews on vocals, piano, guitar, accordion and gazouki, and Chris Leslie on fiddle, mandolin, tenor guitar, bouzouki, ukulele, banjo, oud, whistle, Native American flute and “anything else he can lay his hands on”.
Postponed from last year, The Furrow Collective perform We Know By The Moon with Lucy Farrell on viola, voice and saw; Emily Portman on banjo, concertina and voice and Alasdair Roberts on guitars and voice.
Playing the NCEM for the second Christmas season in a row, Green Matthews turn Dickensian for A Christmas Carol In Concert, performed by Sophie Matthews, voice and flute, Chris Green, voice, guitar, mandocello and piano, and Jude Rees, voice, oboe and melodeon. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk
