David Hammond: Yorkshire Airs and A Cuckoo In Spring
YORK Late Music presents pianist David Hammond’s Yorkshire Airs and A Cuckoo In Spring concert at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today at 1pm.
Hammond continues his exploration of composers with a Yorkshire connection in an afternoon programme of Richard Stoker’s Zodiac Variations; Frederick Delius’s On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring; William Baines’s Goodnight To Flamboro’; Sadie Harrison’s tribute to Baines, 3 Portraits Of William Baines from Shadows; Catherine Holbrook’s Flamborough Sea Cave; Samuel Mather’s Yorkshire Airs and the premiere of new works by Hammond and Elin Alaw.
Pianist Jakob Fichert leads off tomorrow’s brace of York Late Music concerts with his 1pm programme curated by composer and University of York alumnus Tom Armstrong in a tapestry of variations: four discreet panels threading together variation works from the 19th to the 21st centuries.
Jakob Fichert:Concert and talk
James Else’s A Stolen Moment will be followed by Franz Liszt’s Au Bord d’une Source; Variation Tapestry I: a solo piano collage curated by Tom Armstrong; Panel 1, Aaron Copland, Variations/Tom Armstrong, Dance Maze: Variations, and Panel 2, Georg Von Albrecht, Piano Sonata in C Minor (2nd movement Adagio)/Ronald Stevenson, Passacaglia on DSCH (Tempo di Valse and Lento Lamentoso).
Panel 3 comprises Robert Schumann’s Etudes, in the form of free variations on a theme of Beethoven, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major (2nd movement Allegretto), transcribed by Franz Liszt.
The concluding Panel 4 features Bela Bartók’s Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs ( 3 and 8) and Kenneth Leighton’s Nine Variations (2 and 4).
Ian Pace: The Beethoven Project continues with Symphony No. 6 (transcribed by Franz Liszt)
At 7.30pm tomorrow, pianist Ian Pace continues The Beethoven Project’s exploration of Beethoven’s nine symphonies (transcribed by Franz Liszt) with his iconic Pastoral Symphony No.6, complemented by Michael Finnissy’s English Country Tunes (movements 1-3) and Beethoven’s Six Goethe-Lieder (transcribed by Franz Liszt).
Three new musical tributes by York Late Music administrator Steve Crowther will be premiered too: Rock With Stock, A Study In Glass and Louis’ Angry Blues. Jakob Fichert gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm with a complimentary glass of wine or juice.
Tickets are on sale at latemusic.org or on the door.
Kiki Dee & Carmelo Ruggeri: Heading to All Saints Church, Pocklington on The Long Ride Home tour
FOUR nights of Greg Davies and tenth visit of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers are the headline acts in Charles Hutchinson’s bill for cultural satisfaction.
Acoustic duo of the week: Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri, All Saints Church, Pocklington, tonight, 7.30pm
JOIN Bradford-born singer Kiki Dee and guitarist Carmelo Luggeri for an acoustic journey through their songs and stories, taking in songs from 2022 album The Long Ride Home, Kate Bush and Frank Sinatra covers and hits from Kiki’s 55 years and more in the music business, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Star, I Got The Music In Me, Loving & Free and Amoureuse. Box office: kikiandcarmelo.com.
Brighouse & Rastrick Band: A blast of brass on Sunday afternoon at Pocklington Arts Centre
Brass concert of the week: Brighouse & Rastrick Band, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 2pm
FOREVER associated with 1977 number two hit and “unofficial encore” The Floral Dance, West Yorkshire’s Brighouse & Rastrick Band presents a concert suitable for casual listener and connoisseur alike.
The majority of premier band championships have been held by ‘Briggus’, most recently becoming the 2022 British Open and Brass in Concert champions. ‘Briggus’ are noted too for collaborations outside the brass band tradition, from the late Terry Wogan to Kate Rusby, classical actor Simon Callow to The Unthanks at York Minster in 2012. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Tom Holland: Hailing Caesars at Grand Opera House, York
History lesson of the week: Tom Holland, The Lives Of The Caesars, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE Rest Is History podcaster and storyteller Tom Holland journeys back to the Roman empire to “get up close and personal” with Caesar, Augustus, Caligula and Nero as he spotlights the lives of the first 12 Roman emperors in conversation with Martha Kearney.
In this supreme arena, emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to dazzle, as highlighted in Holland’s new Penguin Classics translation of Suetonius’s Lives Of The Twelve Caesars. Expect revelations of the emperors’ shortfalls, sex scandals, tastes, foibles and eccentricities. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Sean Jones’s Mickey in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman
Musical of the week: Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, April 1 to 5, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
WILLY Russell’s Liverpool musical makes its tenth visit to the Grand Opera House, and despite Sean Jones’s appearance in the 2022 tour being billed as his “last ever” after 23 years on and off as Mrs Johnstone’s son Mickey, here he is once more, still “running around as a seven-year-old in a baggy green jumper and short trousers” at 54.
Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle, who played Mrs Lyons on her previous Blood Brothers visit to York, takes the role of Mrs J in Russell’s moving tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Curiouser and curiouser: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Play of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 1 to 5,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Simon Stephens’s stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s story of Christopher Boone (Jonathan Wells), a 15-year-old boy with an extraordinary brain Exceptionally gifted at Maths, he finds everyday life and interaction with other people very confusing.
Christopher has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, hates being touched and deeply distrusts strangers, but everything changes when he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbour’s dog, propelling him on a journey of self-discovery that upturns his world. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Greg Davies: Milking it in his Full Fat Legend stand-up show
Comedy gigs of the week: Greg Davies: Full Fat Legend, York Barbican, April 2 to 5,
TOWERING comedian Greg Davies plays York Barbican for a full-fat four nights on his Full Fat Legend Tour, his first on British soil for seven years.
The 6ft 8 inch star of Taskmaster, The Inbetweeners, The Cleaner, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Man Down and Cuckoo is undertaking his biggest stand-up tour to date. He last played York Barbican on November 1 and 2 2017 on his You Magnificent Beast tour, his first travels for four years. Tickets update: Sold out; for returns only, go to yorkbarbican.co.uk. Davies’s Hull Connexin Live shows on June 3 and 4 and at Leeds First Direct Arena on June 20 are sold out too.
Daniel Wilmot’s Count Dracula in Baron Productions’ Dracula at St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York
High stakes of the week: Baron Productions in Dracula, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, April 3 to 5, 7.30pm
FOUNDER and director Daniel Wilmot makes it Count when starring as the mysterious Dracula in York company Baron Productions’ account of Bram Stoker’s Gothic masterpiece in one of York’s most atmospheric churches.
When Jonathan Harker (Jack McAdam) embarks on a business trip to Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle, little does he know the terror that awaits him. Guided by the wise Professor Van Helsing (Lee Gemmell), a courageous group must gamble their lives, even their very souls, to stop Dracula’s evil plans to enslave the world. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions.
Pianist Ian Pace
Classical concert of the week: York Late Music presents The Beethoven Project: Ian Pace, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, April 5, 7.30pm
IN the second of The Beethoven Project concerts for York Late Music, pianist Ian Pace continues his exploration of Beethoven’s nine symphonies (transcribed by Franz Liszt) with his iconic Pastoral Symphony No. 6.
The programme also includes Michael Finnissy’s English Country Tunes (1-3), Beethoven’s Six Goethe-Lieder (transcribed by Liszt) and a new work of three musical tributes by Steve Crowther, Rock With Stock, A Study In Glass and Louis’ Angry Blues. Box office: latemusic.org/product/ian-pace-concert-tickets/ or on the door.
The poster for the new additions to Lightning Seeds’ Tomorrow’s Here Today 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour
Gig announcement of the week: Lightning Seeds, Tomorrow’s Here Today 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour, York Barbican, October 9, doors 7pm
LIVERPOOL singer, songwriter and producer Ian Broudie is extending Lightning Seeds’ 35th anniversary tour with 11 more dates this autumn. Here come Pure, The Life Of Riley, Change, Lucky You, Sense, All I Want, Sugar Coated Iceberg, You Showed Me, Emily Smiles, Three Lions and many more from his 20-track Tomorrow’s Here Today: 35 Years Of Lightning Seeds compilation album. This summer, Lightning Seeds will support York band Shed Seven at Millennium Square, Leeds, on July 11. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Our Star Theatre Company’s tour poster for Hannay Stands Fast
In Focus: Our Star Theatre Company in Hannay Stands Fast, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
OUR Star Theatre Company cut a dash at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, on Thursday and Friday in Hannay Stands Fast, the sequel to The 39 Steps.
Adapted by David Edgar from John Buchan’s novel, this rip-roaring comedy finds dashing hero Richard Hannay back in the fray on a mission to thwart a new and deadly threat to his beloved England.
Engaged on this top-secret case by MI5, Hannay makes his way down to Cornwall to infiltrate a secretive organisation and learn their dastardly plans. Can he save the day to keep the nation safe for another day? Cue derring-do, utter chaos and laughs aplenty in a show replete with a train, motorbike, ambulance, car, police vehicle, even a horse.
“Like for our production of The 39 Steps, Hannay Stands Fast is taken on by four actors playing dozens of characters – 53 to be precise! – set in various locations created through quick and innovative uses of trunks, crates, suitcases, ladders, you name it!” says director Ben Mowbray, who founded the Ledbury, Herefordshire company in 2016.
Our Star Theatre Company are visiting York on the debut UK tour of the British professional premiere of Hannay Stands Fast with a cast of George Cooper as Hannay and Angharad Mortimer in her company debut as Mary Lambington (and others), joined by the multi-role-playing Daniel Davies and Mowbray as First and Second Clown.
Our Star Theatre Company in Hannay Stands Fast, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 3 and 4, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
IN the second of The Beethoven Project concerts for York Late Music, pianist Ian Pace continues his exploration of Beethoven’s nine symphonies (transcribed by Franz Liszt) with his iconic Pastoral Symphony No. 6 on April 5.
The 7.30pm programme at York Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, also includes Michael Finnissy’s English Country Tunes (1-3), Beethoven’s Six Goethe-Lieder (transcribed by Franz Liszt) and a new work of three musical tributes by Steve Crowther, Rock With Stock, A Study In Glass and Louis’ Angry Blues.
In 2024, Pace and York Late Music administrator and composer Crowther devised The Beethoven Project series of piano recitals based on the Beethoven symphonies transcribed by Liszt.
“The inaugural concert took place on November 4 2024 as part of the York Late Music concert series,” recalls Steve. “The programme included a dazzling performance of my Piano Sonata No.4 and Michael Finnissy’s transcriptions of songs by George Gershwin and Jerome Kern. But what transformed the concert into an event was Ian’s stunning performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The audience was enthralled by the energy and brilliance of the performance.
“CharlesHutchPress music critic Martin Dreyer said: ‘Liszt’s version of Beethoven’s Fifth is masterly, seemingly leaving nothing out and taxing the pianist to the very limit. But Pace was equal to his every demand’.”
Tomorrow, the second Beethoven Project concert will focus on the beloved and highly esteemed Symphony No. 6, known as the Pastoral Symphony. “Franz Liszt transcribed all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies for solo piano,” says Steve. “Published in 1865 and dedicated to Hans von Bülow, these transcriptions stand as an extraordinary feat of both virtuosity and musical insight.
“They are regarded as some of the most monumental and challenging works in the piano repertoire, not only for their technical demands but also for Liszt’s remarkable ability to faithfully capture the essence of Beethoven’s orchestral writing on a single instrument.
“However, Liszt didn’t transcribe the symphonies solely to showcase his impressive skills. At a time when orchestral performances weren’t widely accessible, these piano versions enabled people to experience Beethoven’s symphonies in intimate settings such as salons and homes. Provided the pianist possesses the necessary technical proficiency.”
In an interview in 1988, the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz said: “I deeply regret never having played Liszt’s arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies in public – these are the greatest works for the piano – tremendous works – every note of the symphonies is in the Liszt works.”
Steve continues: “Liszt would not only provide the pianist with a list of the orchestral instruments to imitate but also include pedal marks and fingerings to enhance the pianist’s clarity.
“Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony stands out as his most Romantic symphony. The composer draws inspiration from non-musical sources, using vivid images and descriptions to create a unique and captivating musical narrative.
“Beethoven subtitled it ‘Recollections of Country Life’, and it’s full of nature-inspired imagery — flowing brooks, birdsong, thunderstorms and joyful gatherings.”
I. Allegro ma non troppo – Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the countryside
II. Andante molto mosso – Scene by the brook
III. Allegro – Merry gathering of country folk
IV. Allegro – Thunderstorm
V. Allegretto – Shepherd’s Song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm
“Remarkably, Liszt meticulously preserved all of that in the piano transcription,” highlights Steve:
**Textures** – He faithfully replicates Beethoven’s orchestral textures using layers of arpeggios, tremolos and precise voicing.
**Bird Calls** – In the second movement, Liszt retains the flute, oboe and clarinet imitations of nightingale, quail, and cuckoo, employing delicate articulation and clear spacing.
**Storm Scene** – The fourth movement transforms into a dramatic tour-de-force for the pianist, featuring thundering left-hand tremolos, chromatic runs, and intricate rhythmic complexity.
**Pedalling and Voicing** – Liszt frequently employs meticulously marked pedal suggestions to help evoke the orchestral sonorities and blend harmonies in a manner reminiscent of strings or winds.
York Late Music presents The Beethoven Project: Ian Pace, York Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, April 5, 7.30pm. Jakob Fichert will give a pre-concert talk with a complimentary glass of wine or juice at 6.45pm. Box office: latemusic.org/product/ian-pace-concert-tickets/ or on the door.
THE Late Music concert series, aka Living Music, Live, has made a habit of inviting pianist Ian Pace over the years. It is easy to see why. He is a monarch of the keyboard, not least in repertory of the last two centuries.
He brought his full powers to bear on a programme that began and ended with Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven, with Gershwin and Kern transcriptions by Michael Finnissy and Steve Crowther’s Fourth Piano Sonata in between.
This was the opening concert in what is planned to be an annual series, The Beethoven Project, curated by Crowther and focused around all of Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies.
Liszt was an indefatigable transcriber of works by others, especially where they could be incorporated into his own virtuoso recitals. They also provided him with a more or less regular income.
His version of Beethoven’s Fifth is masterly, seemingly leaving nothing out and taxing the pianist to the very limit. But Pace was equal to his every demand. No-one could claim that this was a note-perfect account – how could it be? – but it was dazzling nonetheless.
He started with the three opening quavers so rapid that they were almost indistinguishable. The whole first movement, complete with repeat of the exposition, was adrenalin-fuelled, with the left hand in constant motion.
The Andante was richly voiced, with strong accents. All the statements of its rondo theme were insistent, although some of the diversions were taken more gently. Some of the humour of the third movement – effectively a scherzo and trio – was lost to heavy treatment, so that Beethoven’s subtle instrumentation in the fugato became too distant a memory.
But one could only gasp in admiration at the orchestral tone that Pace generated in the finale, with his left hand again moving at frightening speed. The work as a whole inevitably emerged more percussively than the original. But Liszt’s achievement was never in doubt.
Pace had opened with Liszt’s version of the first song-cycle in history, Beethoven’s An die Ferne Geliebte (To The Distant Beloved), six songs given without a break. Pace took great pains to highlight the vocal melodies, while opting for measured tempos larded with considerable rubato, probably more than a singer would countenance.
As the cycle progressed Pace made his upper register twinkle several times, not least with the trilling of birds in the unheard text.
Michael Finnissy’s ‘transcriptions’ from songs by Gershwin and Kern were much less literal than the Liszt and much more like arrangements, preferring to conjure atmosphere and doodle over harmonies.
In Love Is Here To Stay (from the 1938 film The Goldwyn Follies), the tune was held back until near the end, although in Embraceable You (from Girl Crazy) it was the jazz element that took control. Best of all was his version of Kern’s Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man (from Show Boat) where the melody was disguised but always detectable. Pace had them well organised.
So also in Steve Crowther’s Fourth Sonata, which sounded not unconnected with the Gershwin that preceded it, although sparer harmonically. Pace sustained excellent momentum and a staccato touch through the rapid opening movement, which was awash with syncopation and sounded like a rondo.
The slow movement was more ruminative, although tastily decorated with roulades. Decorations during the finale tended to occur in the right hand while the left carried the main theme. But both hands flitted lightly around the keyboard – and I swear I could hear traces of Kern here; perhaps they were just left over in my aural memory. But the work was never less than intriguing and often much more.
Pace had once again proved a mighty champion of the new and the little-known.
Ian Pace: Launching The Beethoven Project for Late Music York on Saturday
VIRTUOSO pianist Ian Pace will perform Late Music York’s first recital of The Beethoven Project at the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, on Saturday night.
Devised by Pace and Late Music administrator Steve Crowther, the project involves programming the whole cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies transcribed for piano by Franz Liszt in an annual series of piano recitals.
“Playing all nine transcribd Beethoven symphonies, the project should take Ian seven to eight years!” says Steve. “It’s incredibly demanding and it’ll be a real event.”
The opening 7.30pm concert features the heroic Symphony No. 5 and Liszt’s sublime transcription of the radical An die Ferne Geliebte, Beethoven’s only song cycle.
“But why did Liszt undertake such an enormous artistic challenge?” asks Steve. “To be sure, he loved the music deeply; he loved the challenge; he also loved the idea of the intimacy of performing these orchestral works on the piano, experiencing the symphonies afresh.
“But the main reason was financial. The music publisher Breitkopf & Härtel commissioned Liszt to transcribe the work, paying him eight francs per page. Liszt completed this (and the 6th Symphony) in 1837, ten years after Beethoven’s death.”
In an interview in 1988, the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz said: “I deeply regret never having played Liszt’s arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies in public. These are the greatest works for the piano – tremendous works – every note of the symphonies is in the Liszt works.”
Steve says: “Horowitz’s comments are embedded in the score itself to help the performer realise the original work through the lens of the piano transcription. Liszt would note down the names of the orchestral instruments for the pianist to imitate and add pedal marks and fingerings for pianistic clarity.”
Late Music York’s poster for the Beethoven Project
Saturday’s full concert programme is:
Beethoven: An die Ferne Geliebte (transcribed by Franz Liszt) ;
Gershwin: Love Is Here To Stay (transcribed by Michael Finnissy);
Gershwin: Embraceable You (transcribed by Michael Finnissy);
Gershwin (maybe): Please Pay Some Attention To Me (transcribed by Michael Finnissy)
Jerome Kern: Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man (transcribed by Michael Finnissy)
Steve Crowther: Piano Sonata No.4;
Beethoven: Symphony No.5 (transcribed by Franz Liszt).
“Now if we park the rogue Piano Sonata, the rest of the programme also reimagines original works, songs by Gershwin and Kern, for piano. This time transcribed by the wonderful composer, Michael Finnissy,” says Steve.
“I know Michael, having studied with him at the University of Sussex and continued contact with him through programming, and commissioning his highly original music. Indeed, it was Michael that introduced me and Late Music to Ian Pace. The rest, as they say, is history.”
Crowther sent Finnissy the programme blueprint, “not surprisingly receiving a corrective response with a lovely insight into Gershwin’s Please Pay Some Attention To Me”.
Finnissy wrote: “I have slightly corrected your programme attributions. Richard Rodney Bennett gave me the melody of Please Pay Some Attention To Me; he had been given it by a Swedish cabaret singer. It is (RRB told me) only attributed to George Gershwin – and does not appear in his work list.
“Jerome Kern wrote (rather than transcribed!) Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man(the original version of Show Boat had ‘dat’ instead of ’that’, but more recent editions have replaced this imitation-black-slang with ‘plain English’).”
In a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, with a complimentary glass of wine or juice, Ian Pace will be in conversation with fellow pianist Kate Harrison-Ledger.
“We would like to discuss the Liszt and Gershwin transcriptions, and what they bring to the original compositions,” says Kate. “We will hopefully include a few anecdotes from Michael Finnissy, and, if time allows, invite questions from the audience.”
Delta Saxophone Quartet: Martland, Soft Machine and new works on Saturday
WHO better than the Delta Saxophone Quartet to give York Late Music’s 2023-2024 concert season early momentum on Saturday?
A double celebration this weekend will mark not only 40 years of Late Music, but also the ruby anniversary of the Delta musicians, regular participants in the York series.
Saturday’s 7.30pm programme at the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, will be “typically Delta-eclectic”, featuring the music of Steve Martland, The Soft Machine and some new works.
Stuart O’Hara: Season-opening concert of English songs
The new series will begin on Friday at 1.30pm when bass singer Stuart O’Hara and pianist Marianna Cortesi take a tour through some of the finest English songs from the past decade: works by La Monte Young, Richard Rodney Bennett and Jonathan Harvey, complemented by world premieres of York composers’ settings of words by local poets.
On Friday evening, Late Music will pose the intriguing question: would you attend a concert where all the music was played twice? Would it help you appreciate the music more? Late Music wants to discover the answers in Ruth Lee’s innovative concert of music for harp and electronics. This one is a free/pay-what-you-like event. You could even choose to pay twice!
If your knowledge of accordion is limited to scene-setting via Hollywood movie conceptions of Paris – as sent up by American filmmaker Woody Allen in Everyone Says I Love You – Saturday’s lunchtime concert will put you right.
Franko Bozac: Never underestimate the accordion
Virtuoso Franko Bozac will showcase the reasons why this instrument should not be underestimated in his 1pm programme, featuring a collaboration between composer James Williamson and visual artist Romey T Brough, presented in tandem with Blossom Street Gallery, York.
November 4’s lunchtime concert will be a tribute to Dylan Thomas to mark the 70th anniversary of his death. Tenor Christopher Gorman and pianist David Pipe will present new settings of the Welshman’s poetry by composers Philip Grange, Sadie Harrison, Hayley Jenkins, David Lancaster and Rhian Samuel at 1pm.
In the evening, Beethoven will feature via Franz Liszt piano transcriptions, played by another Late Music favourite, Ian Pace. His 7.30pm programme will include Michael Finnissy’s Gershwin song transcriptions and Late Music concert administrator Steve Crowther’s Piano Sonata No. 4. Box office: latemusic.org.
Ruth Lee: Innovative concert of music for harp and electronics
Ian Pace: Tireless campaigner for composers of the past 100 years
Late Music: Ian Pace, Xenakis Centenary Concert, Composers With A Side Hustle, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel York, 1/4/2023
OSTENSIBLY a Xenakis centenary celebration, this recital had an intriguing sub-title: Composers With A Side Hustle. All six of the composers involved had day jobs until music took over. Xenakis himself was a professional architect working with Le Corbusier in Paris.
Ian Pace has been a tireless campaigner for composers of the past hundred years, including music that is barely dry on the page. He has appeared regularly in the Late Music series in York for over two decades.
He opened with Xenakis’s Mists (1980), a collection of cameos in which his staccato touch maintained immense clarity, even amongst the busiest of textures, often at the top of the keyboard.
A much earlier work, Chansons I-VI (1950-1), written when music was still a sideline for him, found Xenakis in lyrical vein and still strongly influenced by music of his Romanian childhood and Greek parentage. All the songs had a French tinge, boasting a certain joie de vivre when not reflective. Pace invested their melodies with pleasing immediacy.
Completing his Xenakis tribute, Pace gave the composer’s homage to Ravel, À.r. (1987), a virtuoso flourish to end a stimulating evening.
In between, we visited four American composers as well as our own James Williamson. Philip Glass (cab driver and plumber) wrote Knee Play 4 as a piano transcription of one of the five linking intermezzos from his opera Einstein On The Beach. It was both tonal and minimal, but Pace found a way to bring out its inner voices.
Morton Feldman’s (clothes manufacturer) Extensions 3 was extremely delicate, toying with the limits of audibility until its crashing closing chords.
Minimalism is also a stimulus in the work of Williamson (insurance claims handler), as heard here in his new Neon (2023). Tiny changes in repeating motifs in the centre of the piano were mesmeric, until twice interrupted by loud, separated chords which were like blobs of colour on the canvas. Each time the opening recurred, it brought illumination, although it was more like moonlight than anything gassy like neon. What’s a title anyway?
Pace filled out his programme with an amusing potpourri of Charles Ives (insurance agent), arguably the forefather of all the Americans here. It included a Bach-style invention, a solemn chorale and a parody of salon music, all given nicely tongue-in-cheek.
Finally, there was John Cage (graphic designer and mycologist). In his minimalist Satie-inspired In A Landscape (1948), Pace picked out its two melodies from the subtly shifting accents. Yet again he had proved an invaluable missionary for music that might otherwise be forgotten.
Stephen Altoft: Exploring microtonal possibilities on the trumpet
STEPHEN Altoft is dedicated to the creation of new repertoire for the trumpet.
Hear the results tomorrow afternoon in Late Music’s 1pm concert by the Microtonal Projects co-director at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York.
For more than 20 years, Altoft researched the microtonal possibilities of the trumpet with composer Donald Bousted, developing a fourth (rotary) valve mechanism to enable the conversion of his existing trumpets into microtonal instruments: a 19-division B flat trumpet and quarter-tone C trumpet
Latterly, too, he has been developing programmes for flugelhorn in 12-, 19- and 24-divisions of the octave.
As a solo artist, and with percussionist Lee Ferguson in the duo Contour, Altoft has given concerts throughout Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada.
Initially he played in brass bands, most notably the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, before studying at the University of Huddersfield (1991-1995), where he was awarded a B.Mus Honours in performance and composition, a Master’s degree in performance and the Ricordi Prize for Contemporary Performance.
This was followed by periods of private study with Markus Stockhausen in Cologne and, with assistance from the Music Sound Foundation, with the Ensemble Modern trumpeter William Forman in Berlin.
He is now co-director of Microtonal Projects, manages the EUROMicroFest and teaches trumpet and improvisation at the music school in Waldkirch, Germany.
“In the last few years, the Microtonal Trumpet project has concentrated on developing new repertoire in 19-division (19 equal divisions of the octave) tuning on trumpet and flugelhorn, but with a special focus on harmony,” says Altoft. “We have been lucky enough to present this project internationally to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
“The current programme of pieces by myself and international composers brings together microtonal trumpet with electronics, interpretation of compositions and improvisation. Most of the pieces are multitrack pieces, addressing harmony in 19 equal divisions of the octave.”
Tomorrow afternoon’s programme comprises:
Time Dreaming (2018): Donald Bousted (UK) for three 19-div trumpets;
Gnossienne (2014): Eleri Angharad Pound (UK) for solo 19-division trumpet;
Lud’s Church (2020): Richard Whalley (UK) for solo 19-division trumpet and multitracks;
New Work: James Williamson;
Dialogue: Chris Bryan (US/ UK) for 19-div trumpet and computer;
Hidden Jewels (2018): Stephen Altoft (UK/Germany) for multi-tracked 19-div Trumpets;
RASP (2013), Stephen Altoft (UK/Germany ) for 19-div trumpet.
Tickets for tomorrow’s concert cost £5 at latemusic.org/event/stephen-altoft-19-division-trumpet/ or on the door.
Ivana Peranic & Rachel Fryer and pianist Ian Pace to play Late Music concerts on April 1
Cellist Ivana Peranic
LATE Music’s brace of concerts on April 1 at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York, presents cellist Ivana Peranic and pianist Rachel Fryer at 1pm and pianist Ian Pace’s Xenakis Centenary Concert at 7.30pm.
Peranic and Fryer will be performing Hayley Jenkins’ Partition, Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces, Rebecca Clarke’s Impetuoso (from Cello Sonata) and Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata, plus student compositions from York St John University
Late Music regular Pace’s Xenakis Centenary Concert programme carries the subtitle Composers With A Side Hustle in a celebration of Xenakis and other composers with regular jobs.
Step forward Iannis Xenakis, architect; Philip Glass, taxi driver and plumber; Morton Feldman, clothes factory worker; Charles Ives, insurance clerk; James Williamson, insurance claims handler and John Cage, graphic designer and mycologist (fungus collector).
Pace’s programme comprises Xenakis: Mists; Glass: Knee Play 4 (from Einstein On The Beach); Feldman: Extension 3; Ives: Selection of short piano works (Anthem – Processional, Study No. 21 – Some Southpaw Pitching, The Seen And Unseen, Baseball Take-Off, Allegretto, Bad And Good Resolutions); Williamson: New Work (world premiere); Xenakis: Chansons I-VI, Cage: In A Landscape and Xenakis: A.r. (Homage Ravel).
Composer James Williamson gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, accompanied by a complimentary glass of wine or juice.
Afternoon tickets cost £5; evening tickets £12, concessions £10, at latemusic.org or on the door.
Delta Saxophone Quartet: Opening York Late Music’s 2022-2023 season on Friday
YORK Late Music’s 2022/2023 season opens on Friday with the Delta Saxophone Quartet’s evening concert, The Steve Martland Story, at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York.
The 7.30pm programme takes in Purcell/Martland’s Fantasia 6; Martland’s Remix and Principia; Joe Duddell’s Compacted Grounds and world premieres of Damon Rees’s A Hocket A Day and Stine Solbakken’sKarl Johan’s Gate.
Further works will be Louis Andriessen’s Slow Birthday; Tom Armstrong’s Damascene Redux; Michael Nyman’s 24 Hours; Mark Anthony-Turnage’s Run Riot (1st Movement) and Paul McCartney’s Golden Slumbers/Carry The Weight, from The Beatles’ album Abbey Road.
The finale comprises David Lancaster’s arrangement of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, followed by Joe Duddell & Nick Williams’s Joy Division/Factory Records-inspired arrangements.
Looking ahead to the season as a whole, administrator Steve Crowther says: “Whether you are a devotee of new music or simply a lover of music itself, our 2022-2023 season promises to be a truly rewarding experience. We have more than 40 world premières, expressing freshness and innovation.
Jakob Fichert: Piano recital on Saturday
“The season embraces a full range of musical styles and genres. The stark immediacy of Xenakis. The hypnotic minimalism of John Adams. Authentic musical arrangements of Joy Division and David Bowie. We also include pieces by composers who deserve to be better known, for example Reginald Smith Brindle.”
This season also marks the 75th birthday of York Late Music patron and composer Nicola LeFanu, the 150th birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams and the death in April this year of contemporary classical music and opera composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Concerts largely take place at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel on the first Saturday of each month from September to December 2022, then February to June 2023. The season’s opening concert, however, falls this Friday, to be followed by lunchtime and evening concerts the next day.
Each evening concert has an informal pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, accompanied by a free glass of wine or juice, usually featuring an interview with one of the evening’s composers and an open discussion. First up, on Friday, will be saxophonist Chris Caldwell: Remembering Steve Martland.
“All of our concerts are informal and family-friendly, offering a chance to talk to composers and performers, which we strongly encourage. They don’t bite!” says Steve. “Students and young musicians are especially welcome.”
Bingham String Quartet: Playing works by Beethoven, Schnittke, LeFanu and Tippett
In Saturday’s lunchtime recital at 1pm, pianist Jakob Fichert focuses on the music of Massachusetts composer John Adams, who turned 75 on February 14 this year. His works China Gates and American Berserk will be complemented by Adolf Busch’s Variations On An Original Theme; Schönberg’s 6 Little Pieces Op. 19; Deborah Pritchard’s The Sun and the world premiere of Steve Crowther’s Piano Sonata No.4.
Saturday evening’s 7.30pm programme by the Bingham String Quartet comprises Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in Bb Major (Op.18); Schnittke’s String Quartet No.3 LeFanu’s String Quartet No.2 and Tippett’s String Quartet No.2.
Further concerts will be given this year by pianist Duncan Honeybourne, November 5, 1pm; James Turnbull, oboe, and Libby Burgess, piano, November 5, 7.30pm; Micklegate Singers, And There Were Shepherds, December 3, 1pm, and Gemini, Nicola LeFanu At 75, A Portrait and Celebration, December 3, 7.30pm.
Next year’s programme opens with Music On The Edge: The Lapins, featuring Susie Holder-Williams, flute, Chris Caldwell, saxophone, and James Boyd, guitar, on February 4 at 1pm, followed by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet at 7.30pm.
Ruth Lee presents a harp recital on March 4 at 1pm; the Elysian Singers perform at 7.30pm that night.
Ruth Lee: Harp recital on March 4
On April 1, cellist Ivana Peranic and pianist Rachel Fryer unite for the lunchtime recital; York Late Music regular Ian Pace returns to the piano for the Xenakis Centenary Concert: Composers With A Side Hustle at 7.30pm.
On April 29, Tim Brooks and the York Hub steer the children and young students’ recital in a day-long project from 8am to 5pm.
Guitarist Federico Pendenza presents Reginald Smith Brindle: A Tribute on May 6 at 1pm. The tributes continue that evening when The New Matrix focus on the music of Sir Harrison Birtwistle at 7.30pm.
The Composers Competition Workshop takes place at the Unitarian Chapel from 8am to 5pm on June 2.
Baritone Stuart O’Hara sings to piano accompaniment on June 3; Nick Williams conducts the Late Music Ensemble at 7.30pm.
“We hope this whets your appetite and we look forward to seeing you soon,” says Steve. Full programme and ticket details can be found at latemusic.org. Tickets are available on the door too.
Ian Pace: Regular innovative performer on piano at York’s Late Music concert series, returning on December 4
YORK’S Late Music programme of contemporary music returns from pandemic lockdown with two concerts on Saturday at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York.
As ever, this celebration of new music in York will turn the spotlight on compositions of the 20th and 21st centuries, premiering new works and commissions aplenty on the first Saturday of each month from October to December 2021 and February to June 2022, with two concerts per day at 1pm and 7.30pm.
“We moved the programme to start in October because we’ve missed a year of concerts through the pandemic and could not re-start until now because of the small size of the chapel,” says concert administrator and York composer Steve Crowther.
In a late change to the musicians, but not to the programme, baritone Alistair Donaghue and pianist Polly Sharpe replace Robert Rice and William Vann for Saturday’s opening afternoon concert, an exploration of 21st century British songs, featuring settings from the album Songs Now: British Songs Of The 21st Century and the NMC Songbook.
“Unfortunately, Robert is ill, but we’re very grateful that Alistair and Polly have agreed to step in to do the same programme.”
In Saturday’s second concert, at 7.30pm, the Gemini ensemble give first performances of both their commission of Sadie Harrison’s Fire In Song and Morag Galloway’s It’s Getting Hot In Here, complemented by Peter Maxwell Davies’s Economies Of Scale and works by Steve Crowther and Philip Grange, including his Homage To Chagall.
Pianist Duncan Honeybourne: Lockdown compositions on November 6
On November 6, in the afternoon concert, pianist Duncan Honeybourne presents pieces from time spent productively in stay-at-home 2020: Contemporary Piano Soundbites: Composers In Lockdown 2020. The works have been featured on BBC Radio 3, greeted by presenter Tom Service as a “dazzling explosion of creativity”.
For the evening, Elysian Singers’ director Sam Laughton has devised a programme that pairs a contemporary work with an earlier piece with words from the same poet or source. For example, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Rachmaninov’s settings of All Night Vigil or James Macmillan, Thea Musgrave and Benjamin Britten’s settings of words by Herrick.
These will be complemented by new works by regular Late Music composers David Power and David Lancaster and Tom Armstrong, formerly of the University of York, and a motet by Ivor Gurney, published in 2017, fully 92 years after it was composed. “It was just sitting in a drawer,” reveals Steve.
Nick Williams and Tim Brooks combine to present York Music Centre and the new Yorkshire ensemble Spelk’s afternoon recital on December 4. “It’s great to be working with Nick and Tim,” says Steve, looking forward to Brooks’s commissioned piece for young people, And Another Thing. In the second half, Spelk perform music by John Cage, Andriessen and Stravinsky and a new Murphy McCaleb work.
In that evening’s closing concert of 2021, stalwart Ian Pace performs his 13th, or maybe his 14th, Late Music piano recital, this one entitled The Art Of Fugue. “In 1845, Schumann discovered his passion for composing fugues,” says Pace. “This recital explores the threads that connect and resonate through a form that straddles three centuries.”
Framed by two Prelude and Fugues by J S Bach, Pace will be performing works by Shostakovich and Schumann, plus new works by Anthony Adams and Jenny Jackson. “You don’t associate Ian with playing Bach, so it will be interesting to hear his interpretation,” says Steve.
Soprano Anna Snow: 100 Second Songs on March 5
The 2022 programme opens on February 5 with pianist Jakob Fichert’s The Character Piece Throughout Music History (1pm) and Living Songs, soprano Jessica Summers and pianist Jelena Makarova’s evening of Songs of Love and Exile.
Next up, on March 5, will be clarinet player Jonathan Sage (afternoon) and soprano Anna Snow and pianist Kate Ledger’s evening of 100 Second Songs, featuring a patchwork of musical miniatures by the likes of Nicola LeFanu, Sadie Harrison, Tarik O’Regan and James Else.
Bass Stuart O’Hara and pianist Ionna Koullepou perform new settings of York and regional poetry by York composers on the afternoon of April 2. That evening, Bingham String Quartet play Beethoven, Schnittke, LeFanu and Tippett pieces.
Spelk return on May 7 with a rare chance to hear John Cage’s complete Living Room Music at 1pm, followed by Delta Saxophone Quartet’s Dedicated To You…But You Weren’t Listening, including Soft Machine interpretations.
The season ends with soprano Amanda Crawley and pianist Josephine Peach’s Sounds Of The Unexpected (1pm) and Trilogy Ensemble’s evening of Debussy, Libby Larsen, Yu-Liang Chong, William Matthias and more.
Lunchtime concerts costs £5, evening concerts, £12/concessions £10, online at latemusic.org or on the door.
