Cellist Jamie Walton: “Rarely can a cello have sounded so august and avuncular at the same time.” Picture: Matthew Johnson
TWO orchestras were on display in this afternoon concert. One got lost somewhere in the forests and swamplands of Karelia, North Eastern Finland. The other one took inspiration from Shakespeare as imagined by Tchaikovsky and finally peaked with Shostakovich.
All orchestras have off-days and it is to the credit of Simon Wright and his charges that they snapped out of their early doldrums as well as they did. They opened with Sibelius’s Karelia suite and Bloch’s mini cello concerto Schelomo (Solomon), with Tchaikovsky’s fantasy overture Romeo And Juliet and Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony after the interval.
The Sibelius certainly reflected the rugged, ragged tundra but not perhaps in the way the composer might have preferred. Entries were indecisive and the good form that the horns have been enjoying in recent times deserted them.
There was compensation in the central Ballade with a smooth cor anglais solo from Fleur Hughes and rhythms were crisper in the closing march. But the work as a whole sounded tentative.
With the advent of the Bloch, Jamie Walton’s cello immediately injected new life. His passion was not overlaid but came from deep within, emerging especially richly from his lowest string. Rarely can a cello have sounded so august and avuncular at the same time.
Solomon’s sometimes desperate rhapsodising, as Bloch interpreted his words from Ecclesiastes, was lent added depth by solos from bassoon and two trumpets. But it was Walton who penetrated to the heart of Solomon’s personality, alternating moments of rumination with explosions of anger.
There must have been something special in the interval drinks. It was a different orchestra that turned out for Romeo And Juliet. The woodwind choir set an elegiac tone in the Friar Laurence section, but when the strings delivered a brilliant streak in the middle of the vendetta music there was no looking back.
The love theme emerged sensitively from the muted violas. When the returning orchestral fury had finally died away, Romeo’s lamentation brought the fantasy to a tender close.
Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony calls for a classical orchestra, with the addition of a piccolo. That instrument, in the deft hands of Felicity Jones, paired with trombone conjured a tingling buffoonery in the opening Allegro. There was a striking clarity, too, in the lyrical romanza that followed. When we reached the careering Scherzo, the orchestra was patently enjoying itself at last.
There remained Isabel Dowell’s plaintively touching bassoon, set off by the low brass quartet, before a return to drollery in the martial extravaganza of the finale. Wright was now confident enough in his players to goad them into a coda of brilliant acceleration.
THE 2024 North York Moors Chamber Music Festival began unusually with the Baroque before moving into more familiar Romantic territory.
These days you do not expect to hear a Corelli sonata played on a modern violin and partnered by a grand piano. But we have learnt to expect the unexpected in this festival. In any case, you should never write off the supposedly inauthentic.
Alena Baeva and her regular keyboard partner Vadym Kholodenko did their utmost to bring us ‘Baroque’ atmosphere; she used very little vibrato, he much preferred the soft (left-foot) to the sustaining (right-foot) pedal. We were never going to mistake the piano for a harpsichord, but the result was satisfying anyway.
In any case, Kholodenko’s taut ornamentation highlighted the importance of his role beyond merely filling in harmony; it provided just the right underlay for Baeva’s period-style phrasing. Rhythms were always lively, and contrasts between the 11 variations on ‘La Folia’ of Corelli’s single-movement Op 5 No 12 were superbly drawn.
Rachmaninov’s last piano work, Variations on a theme of Corelli, written in 1931, is misnamed. It is also based on ‘La Folia’, an Iberian tune that first emerged in the Renaissance – and is not by Corelli at all. Dozens of composers used it as a basis for variations.
Stephanie Tang was the determined soloist here, reflecting the overriding anger in Rachmaninov’s approach. Her accents were strong and her use of staccato particularly deft. She clearly enjoyed the composer’s jack-in-the-box tendencies but was alive to his attempts to evoke the Iberian origins of the tune. I would not vouch for her total accuracy but the tension in her technique certainly made the most of the work’s tangy harmonies.
Dvořák’s Dumky Op 90 – never named a piano trio but actually his fourth – delves as deeply as he ever did into his Bohemian roots. The title is the plural of dumka, a primarily reflective song that tends to alternate slow melancholy with rapid dance-like sections, in keeping with its folk origins. Its six movements can be treated as two groups of three apiece, but beyond that there is no deliberate formal shape.
Benjamin Baker was the violinist, Rebecca Gilliver the cellist and Daniel Lebhardt the pianist in what was an absolutely delightful penetration of the composer’s nationalistic emotions. They constantly held back the end of a slow section so that we were kept in suspense waiting for its rapid counterpart.
Indeed, their use of rubato, so keenly felt by all three players, was superbly stylish. Dvorak makes especially strong use of the cello, and Gilliver’s warm, expansive sound matched the composer’s intentions. Not that Baker was overshadowed; both revelled in their little cadenzas in the fifth movement. We had come closest to the heart of Bohemia in the leisurely cantabile of the third movement.
The work also encompasses the most taxing piano music Dvorak ever wrote. Lebhardt was alive to all its nuances even when stretched and was a major factor in what made this such an exciting performance.
Since the word ‘dumka’ is believed to originate in Ukraine, it was impossible to ignore thoughts of that benighted country when the music turned melancholic. A marvellous curtain-raiser for the festival, which continues daily until August 24.
REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Enlightenment, St Michael’s Church, Coxwold, August 13
Festival curator and cellist Jamie Walton. Picture: Matthew Johnson
THE special magic of this festival was neatly crystallised in this afternoon recital, which featured a Beethoven string trio and Weber’s Clarinet Quintet.
A packed, rapt audience erupted joyously at the end of each, the first a rare visitor to our concert platforms, the second a much-loved repertoire piece.
You will see it claimed that Beethoven wrote his ‘early’ string trios (he was still in his twenties) as preparation for a full-scale incursion into the world of the string quartet, as if they were but student pieces.
Not a bit of it. With only three voices – violin, viola and cello – a composer has a restricted choice of harmony. In particular, all three parts need to be fully independent, the viola in particular.
In Beethoven’s String Trio Op 9 No 1 on G, we found Meghan Cassidy’s versatile viola paired with Benjamin Baker’s violin, almost as second violin, or with Jamie Walton’s cello, as the composer played off the two duos against one another. In other words, the viola role was vital and emerged here with great clarity.
All three players attacked the bold, arpeggios of the opening allegro with relish, before a delicately song-like slow movement in which the rests were delightfully prolonged. The brisk scherzo had a ruminative trio, a nice contrast.
In the finale, the moto perpetuo tailed off mid-stream into an apparent cul-de-sac. But the joke was on us and the rapid syncopation resumed, right into an accelerated coda. This was Beethoven the adventurer, while still learning from Haydn.
Weber’s Clarinet Quintet is a work of almost relentless jollity – and thoroughly good fun. Matthew Hunt is a clarinettist known for his sense of humour, so the score is tailor-made for him. With Charlotte Scott leading the string quartet, there was lively support for his sprightly cavorting. But the heart of the work lay elsewhere, in the deeply melancholic Adagio.
Here, Hunt’s quiet, superbly sustained legato brought tears to the eyes, these eyes anyway. Towards the end he produced two echo-scales so pianissimo that they were virtually a whisper, a prodigious feat of breath control – and very moving.
The succeeding Scherzo brimmed over with wit and good humour, a total contrast and genuinely funny. The finale was never going to reach these heights, but we could only marvel as Hunt’s unashamed virtuosity carried the day through Weber’s flirtations with vapidity.
MENTION the names Charlotte, Daniel, Jamie and Katya to any regular punter at the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival and they will instantly know who you mean.
For the uninitiated, this is a reference to violinist Charlotte Scott, pianist Daniel Lebhardt, cellist Jamie Walton and pianist Katya Apekisheva. All are core members of the resident team during the summer festival – so I shall use their first names here.
It was a special pleasure to welcome them back to our area as winter closes in, incidentally reminding us of treasures in store next summer (specifically, August11 to 24 2014). Here we enjoyed sonatas by Strauss and Rachmaninov, alongside bonbons by the latter and by Schubert.
Pianist Daniel Lebhardt
Schubert’s Adagio in E flat, D.897 (known by its publisher’s title, Notturno) is a touching piano trio. It begins pianissimo and is – rarely for Schubert – marked appassionato. With the benefit of hindsight, we can feel the nostalgia of a piece written during his 32nd and final year.
Here it was beautifully controlled, with Katya’s rippling piano a constant underlay and the dotted figure in its opening phrase still prominent in its brief chorale.
Rachmaninov stood at the heart of the evening. His Cello Sonata in G minor, a work of his late twenties and the last chamber music he was to write, brought a much-deserved spotlight on Jamie, with Katya still in support (although the actual spotlights flickered distractingly).
Cellist Jamie Walton. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Its first three movements showed varying degrees of agitation here. The opening grew in intensity, right up to its fiery conclusion. Scherzo and trio were neatly contrasted, the one nervy and staccato, the other smoothly melodious.
The slow movement teetered on the brink of sentimentality – but never crossed that line. The finale was quite different. Now in the major key, it reached unexpectedly sunny uplands, delivered with immense conviction right through to its furiously happy coda.
Rachmaninov’s Trio élégiaque in D minor (1893) dates from his late teens but took another two decades to reach its final form. It sounds much like Brahms. Its themes emerged clearly from Daniel’s piano, although Charlotte’s violin needed to resort to some muscularity to match his enthusiasm. Jamie’s cello remained firm and the ending was properly solemn.
Pianist Katya Apekisheva
Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata is another early work, dating from his early twenties, with all the exuberance that implies. Daniel’s passionate piano moved a little too readily directly from piano to forte, with little between. Charlotte not merely withstood the challenge but soared sumptuously in both the outer movements.
The Andante between, marked ‘Improvisation’, was a different matter: an absolute gem. Its song-like melody elicited exceptionally sweet tone from Charlotte, with Daniel nobly self-effacing, and reached a rare ‘pin-drop’ moment at its close, the audience completely transfixed. It crystallised an evening of exceptional warmth – just what the doctor ordered, in fact.
Review by Martin Dreyer
* Next summer’s programme details are available at www.northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
Cellist Alice Neary: Festival trio with violinist Benjamin Baker and pianist Daniel Lebhardt
WHEN standards are already so high, it is hard to imagine that the best wine has been kept till last. Yet this final afternoon devoted to Schubert surpassed everything else I had experienced at this year’s North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. It was nothing short of sensational.
The ‘Trout’ Piano Quintet, D.667, was preceded by the B flat Piano Trio, D.898. The performers in the latter were violinist Benjamin Baker, cellist Alice Neary and pianist Daniel Lebhardt. Their ensemble was so taut, so larded with deep understanding and leavened with the utmost sensitivity to each other, that it seemed certain that they had collaborated before.
Within this delightfully Viennese pastry the ensemble gently drew attention to any number of Schubertian subtleties, teasing our tastebuds with the smallest of details, so that the total confection was constantly riveting.
When the breezy first movement’s second theme arrived, beautifully enunciated by Neary, it was impeccably emulated by Baker; they were in perfect agreement. The pause in the recapitulation was tantalisingly elongated, thanks to Lebhardt.
The slow movement was a lovely contrast, ruminative, thoughtful, even subdued. Its very intimacy drew us in, so that when the piano thinned down to a single line near the end, it was riveting in its simplicity.
Violinist Benjamin Baker: Hosting At The World’s Edge festival next month
The crisp Scherzo was balanced by an extremely smooth, legato Trio, while the frisky final Rondo was light on its feet, positively balletic. I do not expect to hear this account bettered. Equalled, perhaps, but never bettered. I would not be surprised if this threesome were to perform regularly outside this festival. It was no surprise to learn that Neary is to join Baker as a special guest at his New Zealand festival, At The World’s Edge, in October.
A completely new team took over for the ‘Trout’. It did not quite live up to its predecessor in the programme but was nevertheless extremely satisfying. Schubert wrote it while enjoying a holiday in the glorious countryside around Steyr, about 100 miles west of Vienna. So it was fitting that we should enjoy the piece in a rural setting.
The quintet, led by violinist Charlotte Scott, got off to an engaging start, with ensemble always taut. Her fellow string players were violist Simone van der Giessen, cellist Jamie Walton and bassist Siret Lust, with Christian Chamorel the eloquent pianist. But it was not until the second movement Andante that colours really began to emerge, highlighted by the close-knit duet between viola and cello, as also leavened by the rare streak of melancholy here.
After a brilliant scherzo, the variations that give the work its nick-name were slightly under-characterised, the song theme needing a touch more emphasis. Throughout I felt we required a little more from the double bass, which carries less well than the higher voices in this marquee. The finale was given its superb rhythmic impetus by Chamorel’s intelligent pianism.
This concert underlined the magic ingredient of the whole festival: spontaneity. Chamber music, at least outside London, is so often experienced at the hands of groups who repeat the same programme while touring. Many are extremely proficient. But they may lack the freshness that is always on display here, and the calibre of performers is unrivalled by any similar festival. Long may it thrive.
Living Backwards, North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, St Michael’s Church, Coxwold, August 16
IF you are scratching your head over the title above, you deserve an explanation. It comes from Lewis Carroll, whose looking-glass themes are being explored in this year’s festival, which remains North Yorkshire’s best-kept musical secret. This was the fourth of the 14 programmes that could be heard daily until August 26.
Such titles are needed since no named group is performing. We know the musical menu in advance but must wait until the start of each event to discover which of the 27 resident players are involved.
This title? You may well not have encountered Ravel rubbing shoulders with Telemann, not to mention Dvořák with Biber. Throw in an intro by Saariaho, and put everything in reverse chronological order, and you have the outline of this wonderfully eclectic afternoon programme.
Benjamin Baker, who with fellow-violinist Charlotte Scott bore the brunt of the playing, opened with a tender account of Kaija Saariaho’s solo Nocturne, which she wrote in 1994, the same year as her violin concerto. Although intended as an in memoriam for Lutoslawski, it also commemorated the composer’s own death two months ago.
As Baker walked slowly away another memorial piece began, Ravel’s violin and cello sonata to honour Debussy. All but one of its four movements reflects Debussy’s joie de vivre, as did Alena Baeva and Jamie Walton’s playing.
Their warm, weaving dialogue in the opening and skittish scherzo, rapidly alternating bowing with pizzicato, were picked up again in the zestful finale, which bubbled with bonhomie. The slow movement, however, was properly elegiac: deliberate, bleak, and hushed at the close.
Dvorak’s Terzetto in C, for two violins and viola, brought back Baker and Scott, joined by Sascha Bota on the lowest part. They revelled in its unexpected demands. The scherzo’s emphatic return after a gentler trio was but a prelude to a theme and variations that were delivered with ever-increasing panache. Here were three superb virtuosos sharing their unbridled delight in unfamiliar repertoire – almost a trademark of this festival.
Gulliver’s Travels was Telemann’s response to Swift’s widely popular satire, a five-part suite for two violins. Once again it involved Baker and Scott: their palpable rapport was essential to the success of its quick-fire conversation, especially in the teasing ‘Brobdingnagian gigue’ and the busy dance of the ‘untamed Yahoos’.
Scott remained on stage to deliver a stylish, spellbinding account of the 16th and last of Biber’s Rosary sonatas, a chaconne that is the ultimate test of the Baroque violinist. A visit to Wonderland? Definitely.
Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival artistic director and cellist, performing at the 2022 event. Picture: Matthew Johnson
EXPECT the unexpected when the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival invites next month’s audiences to peer into the looking glass.
Now in its 15th year, the summer festival will combine daring programming with an inclusive atmosphere in its fortnight run from August 13 to 26.
This year’s theme, Into The Looking Glass, takes inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s 1872 novel to “explore the psychology of the mind through the prism of music, conveying its various chapters with carefully curated music that takes the audience on an adventurous journey through many twists and turns”.
Having forged ahead to play to live audiences through the height of the Covid pandemic by hiring an open-sided, 5,000 sq.ft marquee, the festival retains the format this year in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside.
Violinist Alena Baeva: Making her North York Moors Chamber Music Festival debut. Picture: Andrej Grilc
In addition, a series of lunchtime concerts will be presented in North York Moors National Park churches at St Michael’s, Coxwold; St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge, and St Mary’s, Lastingham.
From his North York Moors home, the festival’s artistic director, cellist Jamie Walton, has gathered around 30 international artists, such as pianist Katya Apekisheva, French horn virtuoso Ben Goldscheider and violinists Charlotte Scott and Benjamin Baker.
Award-winning Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko and Russian-born, Luxembourg-based violinist Alena Baeva will make their festival debuts.
Works by Bach, Schubert, Strauss, Schumann, Debussy and Mendelssohn, among others, will be performed.
Walton says: “Although the festival is primarily chamber music in the classic sense, the success of last year’s appearance by folk singer Sam Lee and his band opened up our audiences to new styles and acts, while attracting Sam’s own fanbase to the world of classic music.
Jazz pianist and singer Alice Zawadzki : Undertaking Adventures Through Song at her Wonderland concert on August 19 at 6pm in the Festival Marquee at Welburn Manor
“This year, we’re delighted to welcome eclectic singer/violinist Alice Zawadzki and her jazz-infused trio for a concert entitled Wonderland, specially developed for the festival.
“Throughout this festival, audiences can expect the unexpected in a fantastical fortnight that showcases great talent, sublime music and spectacular locations. There’ll be loads of vitality and we’ll be pushing some boundaries.”
For the full festival programme, head to: www.northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Tickets for each main festival concert cost £15, free for under-30s. A season ticket for all 14 concerts is £150.
Who will be playing at the 2023 North York Moors Chamber Music Festival?
Daniel Lebhardt on the piano at the 2022 North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. He returns for this summer’s Into The Looking Glass programme. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Violin: Alena Baeva; Benjamin Baker; Rachel Kolly; Emma Parker; Victoria Sayles; Charlotte Scott.
Viola: Sascha Bota; Meghan Cassidy; Scott Dickinson; Simone van der Giessen.
Cello: Rebecca Gilliver; Jack Moyer; Alice Neary; Tim Posner; Jamie Walton.
Double bass: Siret Lust; Frances Preston.
Piano: Katya Apekisheva; Christian Chamorel; Vadym Kholodenko; Daniel Lebhardt; Nikita Lukinov.
Clarinet: Matthew Hunt.
French horn: Ben Goldscheider.
Plus. . .
Alice Zawadski, singer/violinist; Misha Mullov-Abbado, bass, and Bruno Heinen, piano.
Jamie Walton: Cellist and festival director. Picture: Matthew Johnson
OUTSIDE, a chill wind rattled in off the North Sea, but inside St Hilda’s this piano trio recital promoted by North York Moors Chamber Music was more like the first cuckoo in spring, heralding warmer times, especially the NYMCM’s own festival in August.
Trios by Beethoven and Mendelssohn were prefaced by duos featuring the violin and cello in turn. Charlotte Scott’s succulent violin put everyone in the mood straight away. Svendsen’s popular Romance, Op 26 of 1881, originally for violin and orchestra, can easily sound hackneyed. In her hands, it came up fresh and new, moving from dreamy elegy to full-blown romanticism. Daniel Lebhardt’s piano kept in close attendance.
Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op 70 No 2 in E flat has suffered by comparison with its companion piece, the ‘Ghost’ trio, if only because it lacks a nickname. Its generally warm aura reflects the friendship Beethoven enjoyed with the Hungarian Countess Erdödy, to whom Czerny claimed it was secretly dedicated.
The ensemble found tranquillity in its opening Poco sostenuto, where each instrument suggests a different key before it settles into E flat. There was a lovely transparency in the recapitulation, the quiet opening echoed magically. In the second movement’s double theme and variations – a device much favoured by Haydn but rarely by Beethoven – we heard the two dances, major and minor, coolly differentiated.
The succeeding, song-like Allegretto was notable for the conversation between unaccompanied strings and piano at its heart. The finale’s stormy centre had a powerfully symphonic feel, reaching a majestic climax. Donald Tovey describes it as “stupendous”. It certainly was here.
Jamie Walton brought his most mellow string tone to bear on Mendelssohn’s last Song without Words, Op 109 in D, written for cello and piano. He was particularly sumptuous in its central section and there was a nice tenuto before the recall of the opening.
Mendelssohn’s Second Piano Trio, No 2 in C minor, benefited especially from Lebhardt’s light-fingered pianism. The merging of the two themes in the energetic first movement was cleanly done and the outer sections of the ‘fairy’ Scherzo were extremely nimble.
In a hell-for-leather finale, however, the trio sounded as if in combat with one another and the triumphant chorale emerged with less clarity than it deserved. But one could only admire the commitment this represented, a virtue in evidence throughout the programme.
Review by Martin Dreyer
North York Moors Chamber Music Festival will run from August 13 to 26. Box office: 07722 038990 or northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
North York Moors Chamber Music Festival: Spring, Welburn Manor Marquee, August 19
ONCE again it was the ever-reliable, sweet-toned violin of Charlotte Scott that took the lead in this afternoon’s works, Beethoven’s ‘Spring’ Sonata, Op 24 in F, and Schumann’s Second Piano Trio, Op 80 in D.
Up to this point, the piano – a medium-size Steinway – had been the cause of several comments, mainly negative, about its tone. To these ears, it verged on the clangy; others thought it tinny.
Certainly James Baillieu, the admirable pianist here, had appeared to struggle to produce the kind of sound he wanted. But by now, something had changed, adjustments made no doubt, and the piano returned to something like mellowness.
F major has often been a key indicating the joys of nature, especially for Beethoven. Think of his Pastoral Symphony or the last string quartet. All that was here, in the nuances delivered by both players.
Cellist Jamie Walton. Picture: Matthew Johnson
The exposition was given a full repeat, just as it should be (but isn’t always). The mood music continued in the daydream of an Adagio, with the violin tone now more intimate and the pair enjoying gentle dialogue in the third of its three variations. After the comic Scherzo, with the violin intentionally lagging a beat behind, the rondo found the pair in wonderful harness, melting teasingly back into repetitions of the theme.
They were joined by cellist Jamie Walton for the Schumann. The early tremolos in the strings became tempestuous, but clarity never suffered, even through the long acceleration into the final climax of the first movement.
The cello was the first to break out of the introspective ruminations of the slow movement and Baillieu’s piano became a little over-dramatic before the return of the theme. But there was a delightful ebb and flow as little motifs were tossed around in the succeeding dance. The finale was lent an attractive urgency by the lightness of the semiquavers in all three voices, as the counterpoint fizzed.
REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Daybreak, North York Moors Chamber Music Festival
North York Moors Chamber Music Festival: Daybreak,Welburn Manor marquee, August 13
THE 2022 North York Moors Chamber Music Festival got off to a cracking start with this afternoon concert, a Beethoven piano trio followed by a Dvořák piano quartet.
The festival’s umbrella title is Soundscapes, with the various subtitles moving gradually through the day and the seasons. Appropriately, this was Daybreak.
For anyone new to this wonderful festival – one of the best-kept secrets of the chamber music world anywhere in this country, let alone in Yorkshire – the names of the musicians taking part are only revealed at the event.
All you know ahead of time are the works on the programme. But have no fear. Nobody makes it onto the Welburn stage without the highest pedigree: concerto soloists, orchestra leaders, competition winners, from all over Europe, all with a shared love of chamber music which their careers normally prevent them playing.
So, they come here on holiday, often with families in tow, and indulge themselves for our delight. The results are often astounding – and at £15 a pop, extraordinarily good value.
Beethoven’s Piano Trio, Op 11 in B flat, dates from the late 1790s when he was fairly new on the Vienna scene and still trying to make an impression. Wisely he based his writing on ‘Papa’ Haydn’s example. In these works you find Beethoven at his most witty, which did not escape our threesome here, violinist Charlotte Scott, cellist Rebecca Gilliver and pianist Christian Chamorel.
The opening Allegro was extremely light on its feet, with the downward part of the theme given a keen staccato. The semiquavers in the development section were particularly energetic.
The centre of the slow movement, which involves cello and piano alone (because its remote keys were inaccessible at the time by the clarinet for which the violin role was originally written), was soulful indeed.
The finale, nine variations on a wildly popular song by Joseph Weigl (Before I Start Work, I Need Something To Eat! – one knows the feeling) were sombre, dramatic and martial in turn. They are followed by a crazy little piano cadenza that goes off at a tangent, which Chamorel relished to the full, before his colleagues were allowed back to restore order.
The second of Dvořák’s two piano quartets, Op 87 in E flat, brought in a completely new group of players – something that ordinary economics would not normally make feasible – violinist Benjamin Baker, viola player Meghan Cassidy, cellist Jamie Walton and pianist Daniel Lebhardt. All are regulars at the festival, while Baker and Lebhardt are also frequent collaborators which undoubtedly helped cohesion.
Its dramatic opening was made more so by Lebhardt’s insistent piano, which drove his colleagues a little harder than they might have wished. It did however make the calm appearance of the second theme during the development especially beautiful.
Walton’s cello gave an ultra-lyrical start to the slow movement, so that the arrival of its stormy centre came almost as a shock. The return of the cello’s theme was almost remorseful, as if the disturbance had been too much, and it came to a serene, penitent close.
There was a pleasing sense of dance to the scherzo – almost an old-fashioned minuet – and the finale’s main theme matched the forthright opening of the whole work. The ensemble seemed particularly to savour the moments of repose that Dvořák throws in strategically. The enthusiasm of both ensembles was infectious: it bodes well for the rest of the festival.
Review byMartin Dreyer
Folk musician Sam Lee’s band to play at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival
Sam Lee: Ground-breaking concert at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: Andre Pattenden
FOLK pioneer Sam Lee will bring a new perspective to this summer’s North York Moors Chamber Music Festival when performing his Songlines set of folk songs in the Welburn Manor marquee on August 22 at 7pm.
Now in its 14th consecutive year – it was one of the very few arts festivals to go ahead during the pandemic in both 2020 and 2021 – the 2022 festival runs from August 13 to 27, when its roster of world-class classical musicians gathers to perform dazzling repertoire around the theme of Soundscapes.
This year they will be joined by folk singer, song collector and conservationist Sam Lee and his band. Lee met the festival’s director, cellist Jamie Walton, when he spent time at the newly opened Ayriel Studios in Westerdale, near Whitby, late last year.
Walton, a founder and artistic director of this new state-of-the-art facility, explains: “Sam spent time up at Ayriel Studios writing songs, and we got on so well that I joined him back in May to perform live with nightingales as part of his Nest Collective project.
“This year’s festival theme, Soundscapes, takes inspiration from the landscape and music inspired by nature. Sam’s song set will fit in perfectly, as he is a conservationist, collector of songs and a real champion of nature.”
Ayriel Studios is also serving as a rehearsal space for many of this year’s other festival artists, which includes international musicians such as violinists Charlotte Scott, Benjamin Baker, Rachel Kolly, Victoria Sayles, Irena Simon-Renes and Irene Duval; cellists Alice Neary, Rebecca Gilliver, Tim Posner and Jamie Walton and pianists Katya Apekisheva, James Baillieu; Daniel Lebhardt, Christian Chamorel and Anna Tilbrook.
Taking part too are Ben Goldscheider (French horn); Matthew Hunt (clarinet); James Gilchrist (tenor); Alison Buchanan (soprano, Matthew Wadsworth (lute and theorbo) and young artists The Jubilee String Quartet and Cristian Grainer de Sa.
They will perform works by composers including Beethoven, Debussy, Fauré, Dvořák, Elgar, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, Chausson and many others.
All the main festival concerts will take place once more in an acoustically adapted marquee in the grounds of Welburn Manor Farm, near Kirkbymoorside. This is likely to be the last time the festival utilises this format before returning to churches, three of which – at Coxwold, Egton Bridge, and Danby – are featuring as part of this year’s festival.
Tickets for each main festival concert cost £15; free for under-30s. A season ticket for all 15 concerts costs £150.
To book, email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com, call 07722 038990 or visit northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director Jamie Walton. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Mezzo-soprano Anna Huntley: “Played her part superbly too, setting the fin de siècle tone”. Picture: Kaupo Kikkas
North York Moors Chamber Music Festival: La Belle Époque, Welburn Manor Marquee, August 10
NO fewer than 11 different musicians took part in what was essentially a song-recital by mezzo-soprano Anna Huntley, devoted to ‘mélodies’ – the French answer to the German Lied – whose heyday was that prosperous period of roughly 35 years up until the First World War.
Among the composers, we enjoyed a fascinating handful of lesser lights jostling with the likes of Debussy, Ravel and Chausson.
Huntley certainly knew her way around this repertory. When singing with piano accompaniment – provided by the keenly attentive James Baillieu – she quite properly used no score. She found pathos at the centre of Duparc’s L’invitation au voyage and sustained a lovely line against Baillieu’s rippling piano. Paladilhe’s Psyché made a pleasing miniature with the voice in a largely secondary role.
Her account of Debussy’s Trois chansons de Bilitis – who was supposedly an ancient Greek poetess but was in reality a fiction created by Pierre Louÿs and fooling many classicists – was equally fluent.
The semi-recitative of ‘La flute de Pan’ and the rueful reminiscence of ‘La chevelure’ was countered by more forceful momentum in ‘Le tombeau de Naïades’. Later we had shapely Chaminade, and Viardot’s Havanaise in operetta style, with Baillieu injecting witty habanera rhythms.
Violinist Benjamin Baker: “Breath-taking finale, barely off the plane from New York”
But the real treats came when she had an ensemble at her side. In Chausson’s Chanson perpetuelle, violin and viola sweetly in turn echoed the vocal line and the full piano quintet helped generate considerable intensity.
Even more of a pleasure was the chance to hear Ravel’s Chansons madécasses with the flute of Claire Wickes (doubling on piccolo), alongside Jamie Walton’s cello and Daniel Lebhardt’s piano. Here was intriguing scene-painting, impressionism with exotic ethnic tints. This group was notably well-knit.
A breath-taking finale came with violinist Benjamin Baker, barely off the plane from New York, in the concertante role in Chausson’s Poème, Op 25. The early elegiac mood turned gradually more upbeat, as Baker’s soaring cantilenas and dizzying arpeggios built towards a protracted final cadence that turned from minor to major at the last gasp. A quintet, led from the piano by Katya Apekisheva, lent energetic support. Another festival gem. But Huntley had played her part superbly too, setting the fin de siècle tone.
