RNCM Big Band with Eric Marienthal

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Eric Marienthal, Gordon Goodwin, Joshua Savage, RNCM, RNCM Big Band, RNCM Big Band with Eric Marienthal

RNCM Big Band with Eric Marienthal

RNCM Theatre, 3 November 2018

It was perhaps the best RNCM Big Band concert ever.

There was the precious pleasure of seeing someone – Eric Marienthal, saxophonist – do something supremely well. Nor did the RNCM Big Band disappoint: there was much urgency, a constant forward propulsion always, the pace brisk and always accelerating, to all of the twelve tracks, many of them composed and arranged by Eric’s colleague Gordon Goodwin.

We heard the brazen confidence of a sweetly blaring city, mellow and spacious, swarming with colour and sound. Resplendent solos on piano, guitar, trumpet and (naturally) saxophone softly ruffled the ear; and, on drums, Joshua Savage took part in a kind of dialogue with Eric’s saxophone. It was much more than a pair of solos, with these two; more of a beck and call.

Now the only question is: how will the RNCM Big Band top this?

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RNCM Piano Day

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Chopin, Fantasy in F minor, Mendelssohn, Mozart, RNCM, RNCM Piano Day, Schubert, Schumann

RNCM Piano Day

RNCM, 16 June 2018

Another wonderful and eventful day!

While it was a pity that the masterclass with Murray Perahia was cancelled (and what an extraordinary experience that would have been, to see the great pianist teaching close up), there was still plenty going on during this year’s Piano Day at the RNCM.

In the afternoon and early evening we heard lyric works by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann, which was followed by two Mozart sonatas and a trio of Schubert works in the closing concert. The final performance of Schubert’s ‘Fantasy in F minor’, a work full of tenderness yet also with feral outbursts of bombastic passion, was glorious.

He felt things deeply, did that Schubert bloke. No doubt about it.

RNCM Session Orchestra

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Andy Stott, Crazy in Love, Dancing Queen, Handbags and Gladrags, I’m So Excited!, RNCM, RNCM Session Orchestra, The Pointer Sisters

RNCM Session Orchestra

RNCM Theatre, 9 June 2018

This was yet another fiery concert from the RNCM Session Orchestra, with an incendiary chain of songs following fleet as wildfire.

On a rough count, we heard twenty four songs, all told. Some were ballads (‘Handbags and Gladrags’), some were pop (‘Dancing Queen’), some were joyous R’n’B (‘Crazy in Love’), some were Disco (‘I’m so Excited’). Though, in truth, The Pointer Sisters were always superior disco fare. Terrific singing, outstanding musicianship with Andy Stott, fire-starter extraordinaire, at the centre of it all, conducting.

The brisk tempo that has become a characteristic of these concerts was very much in evidence throughout. It is song after song after song, relentlessly. Maximum bang for your buck. Once one song ends then, hey up, there is another one right after. We are off again. And here is another. Next.

Entertainment reloaded.

RNCM Jazz Collective

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RNCM Jazz Collective

RNCM Jazz Collective

RNCM Theatre, 12 May 2018

A concert of many colours.

We were taken all around the world, as Mike Hall and his talented collective played jazz from all four corners of the globe. Duke Ellington featured a few times, there was a tango suite by Astor Piazzolla, and a wonderfully atmospheric street tapestry of sound (conjure the noise of a boisterous Arabian bazaar) by a Lebanese composer whose name I cannot now recall.

Of the countries represented, vivid impressions of Africa (particularly South Africa) and the Carribean (a joyous calypso number), Norway and Egypt, occupy a firm foothold in my memory still.

There were brilliant solo performances on saxophone, trumpet, piano, guitar… And as a collective, the musicians were storming. Global warming? Nah, full-on global roasting.

RNCM Symphony Orchestra

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Bartók, Brahms, RNCM Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Saëns, Wyn Chan

RNCM Symphony Orchestra

RNCM Concert Hall, 3 May 2018

Listen now.

Attentively, mind. To this grand, ebullient orchestra.

The concert hall is cool and they are playing works by Saint-Saëns, Bartók and Brahms. Several musicians reinforce the orchestra’s number after each performance. Wyn Chan plays piano for Bartók’s Piano Concerto No 1.

Brahms’ sonority is so sumptuous in his Symphony No 2 that it calms the heart, soothes and uplifts the soul. Somehow you loosen, feel the warmth of sunlight. Your breath flows freely, even though you are ascending some sort of hill. A phalanx of strings evokes a verdant Wienerwald landscape. Careful as you go, don’t stumble. You are at he peak

Listen now.

RNCM Big Band and Chamber Orchestra with Markus Stockhausen

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Felice, Miniatur einer Seelenreise, RNCM, RNCM Big Band and Chamber Orchestra with Markus Stockhausen, Tanzendes Licht

RNCM Big Band and Chamber Orchestra with Markus Stockhausen

RNCM Theatre, 24 March 2018

Markus Stockhausen joyfully flung open the floodgates.

That allowed a deluge of fine musical composition and freefall improvisation to engulf the stage, wave following upon viral wave.

We began with Miniatur einer Seelenreise, a stirring work foregrounding trumpet (which Stockhausen played) and strings (the Chamber Orchestra, primarily). This duly segued into a riot of avant-garde improvisation (‘intuitive music’, so-called) that intrigued and somehow kept your attention. ‘Well, you tell me,’ was the perplexed judgement of the man who sat behind me. Being momentarily speechless myself, I instead smiled and left for the interval where I chomped on some Ritter chocolate.

The second half saw Tanzendes Licht, apparently a homage to Paul Klee but, anyway, magnificent and flowing and (come to think of it) as elegant as the artist’s line. Altogether wonderful, a supremely graceful use of time: you didn’t want it to ever end, which is one (defining?) quality of beautiful music.

In the next work (alas, Tanzendes Licht did end), Felice, the jazz musicians got to really kick out and a roaring spate of solos occurred: we heard terrific flights of fancy on guitar, drums, trumpet and trombone, saxophone… you name it. Their playing was phenomenal and rightly garnered applause, not least from the man who was sat behind me. For an encore, the musicians played Felice again – well, not exactly: like all fine jazz players, they could not repeat themselves anymore than Heraclitus’ warrior could step into the same river twice. Anyway, the encore made the man behind me even happier.

I was happy too.

Un voyage des impressions: RNCM Chamber Music Festival

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Boulanger, Dance Eccentrique, Debussy, Faure, George Enescu, Messiaen, String Octet in C Major, The Rite of Spring, Un voyage des impressions: RNCM Chamber Music Festival

Un voyage des impressions: RNCM Chamber Music Festival

RNCM, 9-11 March 2018

This year’s RNCM Chamber Music Festival, Un voyage des impressions, took its inspiration from French music, though not entirely so.

On Saturday morning, for example, there was a concert entitled Dance Eccentrique, which featured two works by Stravinsky, including The Rite of Spring in a version for four hands (that is, two pianists sat at the same piano). It was one of the highlights of the weekend.

There was a lot of different sorts of French music, anyway: Europop and baroque, French folk song alongside generous dollops of Debussy, Faure and Messiaen. One concert called out Boulanger’s legacy, and not before time.

The final concert by the Aronowitz Ensemble, featuring a princely portion of RNCM students, had a rare and, as it turned out, a very fine performance of George Enescu’s String Octet in C Major. You need eight top-of-their-game miusicians to do it justice, probably the prime reason why it is so seldom seen. Thankfully, top-of their-game musicians were out in abundance over these three festival days. So that wasn’t a problem.

A good ‘un.

RNCM-Paris Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra

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Markus Stenz, Paris Conservatoire, Paris-Manchester 1918, RNCM, RNCM-Paris Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra

RNCM-Paris Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra

RNCM Concert Hall, 1 March 2018

In this, the opening concert of Paris-Manchester 1918, the German conductor Markus Stenz conducted an orchestra of students from the RNCM and the Paris Conservatoire.

On a chilly Manchester evening, the first day of Spring no less, that saw the Beast from the East make merry dalliance with Storm Emma, it was the ‘Valkyries’ section of Richard Wagner’s The Ring, in an orchestral arrangement (a deft abridgement) by the Dutchman Henk de Vlieger, that provided the most apposite soundtrack. The heavens were in uproar, inside and outside of the concert hall.

Before that, mind, we had Claude Debussy’s L’après-midi d’un faune, a work full of fabulist, haunting melody, and Edward Elgar’s magnificent Enigma Variations. The whole concert could be characterised as a high-class selection box of great European music, and it was ably brought to life by these young, greatly talented musicians – and they were not only from Europe. Both the RNCM and the Paris Conservatoire are world-class institutions and they attract students from around the globe. It was wonderful to behold.

There are several Paris-Manchester 1918 concerts in Paris over the coming days, while the next Manchester concerts are In Flanders and Friendship in Wartime. As well as the music, there is a virtual exhibition, currently live, called Paris-Manchester 1918: Conservatoires in time of war. It is full of fascinating and evocative artifacts and you can view it here.

A full programme of Paris-Manchester 1918 events can be found here.

RNCM Chamber Orchestra with Henning Kraggerud

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Henning Kraggerud, RNCM, RNCM Chamber Orchestra with Henning Kraggerud

RNCM Chamber Orchestra with Henning Kraggerud

RNCM Concert Hall, 10 February 2018

Just a wonderful concert, this one, with Henning Kraggerud and the RNCM Chamber Orchestra playing three violin concertos, two by Mozart (No. 3 and 5) and another by Mendelssohn.

Each one had an Arcadian beauty, but I especially loved the open-hearted passages, so sonorous and tender, that are to be found in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor: it was as though a beloved were holding your hand.

Mid-way through the concert, immediately after the interval, we saw Henning Kraggerud receive a Fellowship of the RNCM, which was yet more cause for good cheer. Up flies the falcon! It means we can expect to see this wonderful musician (and composer and teacher and… he received a veritable eulogy on the award of the Fellowship) playing at the RNCM again soon, and hopefully for many years to come.

His introductory remarks to each concerto, so full of sparkling insight and impish wit (albeit sometimes at the expense of viola players) were an added bonus.

Terrific stuff.

RNCM Big Band with Steve Berry

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RNCM Big Band with Steve Berry

RNCM Big Band with Steve Berry

RNCM Theatre, 3 February 2018

For this concert, Steve Berry took stewardship of the RNCM Big Band and, while it may have been a more relaxed and informal affair than usual, the musicianship was as top-notch as ever.

His chosen programme was personal and idiosyncratic, with my favourite piece of music being a South African Township Jazz number that was joyous and uplifting and altogether happy. Over the course of a delightful evening, he coaxed searing solos out of many members of the band. There was a hearty brew of strong tunes to enjoy and, later, to learn about.

Because after all of these RNCM Big Band concerts (and not only Big Band), I  come to realise that my musical knowledge is inadequate, and that ignorance dilutes pleasure. The more you discover, the more you enjoy.