2011
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The 2011 Tilford Bach Festival included four
varied and excellent concerts over two weekends. This was the first festival
with Adrian Butterfield as Musical Director, and a triumph it was for him! Read
our concert reports below from TBS members.
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Amidst all the longevity of the life of the TBS, a
spot of youthfulness was required and that’s what we got for our first
concert on May 27th with the appearance in the Great Hall of Farnham Castle of
the thirteen members of the Royal College of Music Historical Performance
Ensemble directed by Adrian Butterfield.
It’s interesting that at the time Vivaldi and
J.S.Bach were composing, the castle would already have been about 500 years
old. Sophia Anagnostou was the soloist for Vivaldi’s C major violin
concerto supported by the other seven members of the string ensemble.
Bach’s cantata BWV182 King of Heaven thou art
welcome, sung by four voices plus strings and organ was particularly memorable
for a duet between alto Rupert Entiknap and Isobel Clarke playing a skilfully
controlled recorder.
In the second half it was Olga Popova’s turn as
soloist in Vivaldi’s violin concerto in E major. The evening closed with
Bach’s cantata BWV61 Now come the gentiles’ saviour which featured
a most delightful duet between tenor William Morgan and cellist Willemijn
Knodler.
It’s always an added pleasure when we hear these
young students from the
Pete Wisbey
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Clare Salaman (violin), Oliver Webber
(violin), Peter Collyer (viola), Adrian Butterfield (violin & director),
Katherine Sharman (Cello), Racehl Brown (flute & recorder), Joanne Lunn,
Laurence Cummings (Harpsichord) and Peter Buckoke (bass)
It was baroque music at its very best played in the
perfect setting of Tilford Church, exactly what Denys Darlow the founder of the
Tilford Bach Society envisaged and established way back in 1952. This concert
was given in celebration of Denys’s 90th birthday and was attended by
members of his family, although sadly the founder himself is now unable to
travel.
The London Handel Players under the leadership of Adrian
Butterfield, together with the glorious soprano voice of Joanne Lunn, presented
instrumental and vocal music from
Joanne Lunn has made several visits to Tilford, but
this time was invited specifically to sing a piece that was created for
her. After a lovely rendition of an
aria from Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Adrian Butterfield introduced Denys
Darlow’s High Hills for soprano, flute and strings, composed only six
years ago when he was, astonishingly, 84 years old.
The words come from a poem by Geoffrey Winthrop Young
and begins, ‘There is much comfort in high hills, and a great easing of
the heart’. The music is
quintessentially English in style and its gently undulating melodies and
melancholic harmonies evoke an English landscape under cloudy skies. The sun breaks through in a glorious
‘Alleluia’, reflecting Denys’s strong personal faith. It was a poignant and lovely performance
to end the first half, and Denys’s wife Sophy was presented with a
bouquet from the Tilford Bach Society.
After the interval it was Adrian Butterfield’s
turn to display his virtuosity in Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in G major,
which opened with great attack and panache from the ensemble. The expressive qualities of the baroque
violin were beautifully demonstrated in the haunting, chromatic
Three entertaining French theatrical pieces followed,
by Lully, Corette and Rameau, and the concert ended with two Handel arias,
again featuring the exquisite combination of Joanne Lunn’s voice and
Rachel Brown’s flutes. For the aria ‘Il Volo’, about a bird
returning to its nest, Rachel Brown played the sopranino recorder, her perfect
imitation of birdsong recalling the effect of that earlier occasion.
Rosemary Wisbey
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Laurence Cummings (accompanist & Joint
President of the TBS), Diana Vivian (soprano) and Alistair Digges (tenor).
It was a new venture for the Tilford Bach Festival: a
recital of operatic arias ranging over three and a half centuries. Local Soprano Diana Vivian and tenor
Alistair Digges made a very welcome return to the scene of their triumph in the
Community Opera Nigel of Tilford last year when they created the roles of Lady
Ermyntrude and her son Sir Nigel.
The opera’s conductor Laurence Cummings accompanied the singers on
the piano, with his customary skill and sensitivity, in a programme that
displayed both singers’ extraordinary range and versatility.
Diana Vivian is a soloist of international repute,
singing many leading roles in operas and oratorios. Her first solo in this recital was
Purcell’s ‘Dido’s Lament’, sung with a touching
sincerity and purity of tone. The
full beauty of her voice was heard in the lyrical, undulating melody of
Dvořák’s ‘Song to the Moon’ from Russalka, and
her dramatic power in a bloodcurdling aria about child murder from
Janáček’s Jenufa.
Alistair Digges is a Glaswegian at the start of his
professional career but he already lists an impressive array of international
engagements, He melted the hearts
of the Tilford audience with Handel’s ‘Where e’er You
Walk’ and Donizetti’s ‘One Furtive Tear’ from
L’Elisir d’amore and impressed with his power and range in
Federico’s Lament from Cilea’s L’Arlesiana.
The pair also joined forces in some delightful duets,
including Rudolfo and Mimi’s duet, ‘Oh! sweet little lady!’
from La Boheme during which they wandered away, arm in arm, their beautifully
blended voices fading into the distance.
In the second half their performance of the well-known balcony scene
from West Side Story had the audience cheering and stamping, and after some
shocking flirtation with the audience by Diana they finally waltzed away to the
strains of Lehar and applause and enthusiastic comments from the audience.
Pete Wisbey
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Bach’s B Minor Mass is a sacred work in more
than one respect for the members of the Tilford Bach Society. Its religious
aspect is self-evident, but its place in the hearts and minds of the music-lovers
of the Farnham area is deeply embedded in the history of the TBS and its
festival.
Every performance, of which there have been dozens
over the years, is anticipated and savoured and then enjoyed with relish. Have
things changed? Not at all!
This year’s performance had many wondering what
to expect, following the handing over of musical direction from the massively
talented Laurence Cummings to his confrere, Adrian Butterfield, a very
accomplished baroque violinist. Although relatively new to the art of
conducting this kind of work,
The TBS is fortunate to have a long-standing
connection with Pegasus, a chamber choir that meets and rehearses in
There was the impression that the constrictions of the
church may cause poor sight lines from conductor to rear ranks of the choir and
this was probably also a reason we couldn’t always hear the men’s
voices as strongly as some would like. But this may also depend on where you
happen to be sitting.
The soloists were a great success, particularly
soprano Sophie Junker, winner of the recent London Handel Singing Competition.
The Benedictus, a tenor aria with flute obbligato, was a particular delight.
Not only is Anthony Gregory a good tenor who controlled his delivery well, but
the flute part was very sensitively delivered by Rachel Brown, a flautist of
international renown and a favourite at TBS.
Alexandra Gibson is always a much-loved performer at
Tilford and her performance in the alto solos was everything we expected.
Newcomer Andrew Mahon completed the solo voices in the bass pieces, bringing a
strong rich voice that we hope to hear again.
It is difficult to find adequate words that describe the
quality of the orchestra that was assembled for this work. It comprised nearly
two dozen players specialised in the playing of baroque instruments. It also
included a generous portion of that precious commodity, highly skilled players
of natural trumpets who don’t make mistakes or fluff their entries when
playing extremely difficult brass instruments that have no valves.
This was Adrian Butterfield’s triumph! It augurs
well for future festivals.
Ian Sargeant
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