2009

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A large audience on 6th June

The 2009 Tilford Bach Festival was another memorable musical event, though the weather was not ideal. Excellent performances by international musicians delighted music-lovers from far afield.

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From the rising of the sun with the twittering of the dawn chorus that begins Le Matin to the Southbank Sinfonia in full flow for La Tempesta which lowers the Sun on Le Soir this was a whole musical day in one evening that had the audience in the Great Hall of Farnham Castle cheering the first night of the Festival.

Appropriately for a young orchestra they had chosen to play three early works by Haydn; symphonies 6, 7 and 8, Le Matin, Le Midi and Le Soir. Each symphony was directed by the leader of the orchestra, three members taking it in turn to lead; and each led their colleagues through brilliant performances of Haydn’s music.

It would be invidious to single out individuals for praise, but I think we spotted some very talented young musicians on their way to the top including a flautist and two violinists. Southbank Sinfonia is a unique venture that offers an intensive 8 month orchestral apprenticeship to 32 of the very best young graduates of the UK’s music colleges.

One part of their training is a Baroque project where they learn to tackle the bowing, tuning and other aspects of music of the period. They are coached in this by Adrian Butterfield who, having taken them to the London Handel Festival then brought them to Farnham Castle for the opening night of the Tilford Bach Festival. We are used to Adrian’s brilliant violin playing and his influence on his young students was very apparent.

Pete Wisbey

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The second festival concert was equally uplifting, but with fewer decibels and featuring experienced professionals.

Three widely acclaimed musicians at Tilford delighted the audience with an all-Bach concert.

Rachel Brown is a flautist of international reputation, frequent visitor to Tilford and greatly appreciated by music-lovers in this area.

Laurence Cummings is such a versatile musician that concert-goers have to check in what mode they will be hearing him when they go to an event. On this occasion he was the harpsichord player who accompanies baroque music in many international venues, playing tonight at Tilford.

Katherine Sharman, as a highly valued baroque cellist with the London Handel Players, completed the ensemble.

The music was sublime – four flute sonatas (BWVs 1030, 1032, 1033 & 1034), the Suite No.1 for solo cello in G Major and French Suite No. 5 in G Major for solo harpsichord. Non-stop Bach, played by superb musicians on period instruments in a beautiful setting made this an evening to savour.

Ian Sargeant

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On such a chilly evening the audience was grateful to be presented with blue skies and birdsong in a programme entitled Pastoral Symfony (sic.). The London Handel Players performed works with a rural theme by Vivaldi, Purcell and Rebel, displaying three very distinctive national Baroque styles and a fascinating range of orchestration.

From Italy came Vivaldis delightful flute concerto The Goldfinch in which Rachel Browns baroque flute proved a perfect instrument for imitating the delicate intricacies of birdsong. This piece was originally performed by Venetian orphan girls who were modestly hidden behind a screen.

Purcell’s string music from The Fairy Queen transported us to a legendary version of rural England complete with swans, haymakers and green men. Katherine Sharman evidently relished the energetic cello parts in the haymakers revels and the Monkey’s Dance.

Back to Italy for an extraordinary Spring from Vivaldis The Four Seasons arranged by Chédeville for hurdy-gurdy and strings. Claire Salaman explained the mechanics of this thousand-year-old instrument that combines six strings, a wheel, a turning handle, two drones and a small keyboard. It added a robust bucolic feel to this well-known work, surprising and delighting the audience so much that they burst into applause after the first movement.

The final destination was France, where Parisian violinist and opera composer Jean-Féry Rebels Les Elémens traced the creation of the earth in a series of dramatic episodes. Opening with startling orchestral discords representing chaos, instrumental depictions of earth, water, fire and air followed. The song of nightingales led to a final suite of dances that combined elegance and energy, a fitting finale to an unusual and highly enjoyable programme.

Rosemary Wisbey

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The final Saturday night is traditionally the big choral event of the year for the TBS. Approximately thirty professional musicians plus a visiting choir provided all the variety and firepower one could desire.

The opening work was the Bach Mass in G Minor BWV235. Not as well known as other masses, this short mass is nevertheless a powerful work which was well performed and gave the audience the chance to hear the outstanding counter-tenor voice of Daniel Taylor as well as those of the other renowned soloists and Theatre of Early Music Choir from Toronto.

Under the direction of Adrian Butterfield, normally performing on the baroque violin but prevented from this whilst he recovers from a broken arm, this Lutheran Mass was an uplifting start to the concert.

The second part of the concert was a longer work by Handel, based on the mythological story of Hercules struggle to decide whether to follow a life of pleasure or virtue. Handel’s The Choice of Hercules is a work that relatively few music lovers know. The Farnham area now contains a significant number of people who are glad they have now heard this interesting piece, particularly as it was performed by musicians of such a calibre.

Under the direction of Laurence Cummings from the harpsichord, this work was as exciting and enjoyable as any to have been performed in recent years. Nobody minded the fact that Hercules, a symbol of strength and virility, had an alto voice as it was Daniel Taylor’s voice.

Every aspect of this performance was superb – soloists Susanna Huntley as Pleasure (soprano), Anna Huntley as Virtue (mezzo-soprano), John McMunn as an Attendant of Pleasure (tenor) and Daniel Taylor as Hercules were faultless. The choir and orchestra delivered everything required without blemish.

Ian Sargeant

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A late addition to the festival programme was a short concert by the visiting choir from Toronto. Under the direction of Daniel Taylor, this very good choir performed a mixture of unaccompanied songs by a variety of composers, mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries, in All Saints Church.

The final item was a total contrast. Benjamin Britten’s A Hymn to the Virgin is for a double choir singing antiphonally and was sung with perfect synchronisation despite the total separation of the two choirs.

Thus ended a memorable festival.

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More pictures from the Festival

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