Brandenberg Concertos - Feinstein Ensemble

The last few events that I've been to have all been a little bit different for me, so, to sit back at St Martin-in-the-Fields and listen to the Brandenberg Concertos was a little bit like coming home. The lights began to dim, and the musicians arrived on stage and began such familiar music that it felt like a welcome hug from an old friend.




The joy of this concert was the way in which the Feinstein Ensemble made the music dance. They move to the music as they play, they smile and look like they are having an absolute ball on stage which makes it is impossible to not be drawn into the magic that they are creating. If their performance style is not enough, there is the added benefit of experiencing the sound of the original instruments. It made me feel a little bit closer to Bach himself to hear the music performed the way that he would have heard it performed.

I don't think I've ever heard Baroque style french horns (trompa, see the image) and my first thought when they blasted out was was: if only Bach could have heard this performed with our more subtle and easier to pitch modern day instruments. Those original horns blast out so loudly that they really dominate over all the other instruments! The French originally used to keep brass instruments seperate from the strings and classed them as "outdoor instruments". I can understand why now. They are far from the delicate and subdued sound that we now associate with the French horn. The trumpet has a similar antiquated look to it, so when the musician began playing the second concerto in such a high register with such clarity and control, the performance was even more impressive than had it been on a modern day instrument. What was interesting was the similarity in sound between the trumpet and the oboe. At times it was difficult to tell which of the instruments was playing!



Another extraordinary mention needs to go to the harpsichord player. He only had one cadenza which he played with flair and extravagence - I was almost standing in order to see what he was up to! In fact, the more I think about it, the more musicians I want to mention. We have seen this ensemble perform before and are familiar with the recorder player (Martin Feinstein) and his brilliant musicianship, but I must also mention the violinist who held everything together with such aplomb (especially when sometimes all we could hear were those trompa!!) The most apt comment came from him when he was busy tuning the strings, saying that these original instruments were so hard to tune, and surely we could come up with something better!!

I have to agree with his comment. It was wonderful to hear the music as Bach had heard it, but I left the concert feeling that our instruments have definitely improved over time and we are much better off for it!!

The Habit of Art - by Alan Bennett

Once again I found myself attending a genre that I'm not altogether familiar with: a play. Our decision to attend this was really so that we could spend some time with a friend who had said he was happy to go to a show with us as long as it was "not a musical"!! So, the challenge had been set and the googling began and we found this play that was showing at the National Theatre.

We read the synopsis, thought it looked interesting and booked out seats. It was going to be a tale about an imaginary meeting between Auden and Britten in 1972, many years after their collaborations in the 30s. As I'm aware that there had been a possible relationship between the two men, I thought it would be interesting to watch an imagined encounter between them so many years later.

The play itself was designed as a play within a play: a play about actors rehearsing a play about Britten and Auden. The set is a set within a set: a central set where the actors were acting out Britten and Auden and then a set around that which was the rehearsal room for the play. All rather apt for a play which is an artistic creation about artistic creation.

The biggest surprise was that the show was full of humour. When the actors were not acting the play there was plenty of banter actors, writers, and even audiences. This greatly relieved the intensity that we felt when watching the play within a play, which was an intense study of these two great men. This imaginary encounter was being expressed through the eyes of the man who would later write the biographies of both men.

When the show ended and we were heading for post-theatre drinks we began wondering about the meaning behind the play. It was one of those shows where it was clear that the writer had a message to share with us, but what was it? There seemed to be so much that we could have taken from it and had we taken the "right" message. There were definite literary and musical references that I simply did not know about - in fact at one point one of the characters says, "I don't even know what I don't know" which I could easily have said myself. We observe all the unknown people that revolve around a famous person's life and are made aware that they matter too. We are made aware of all the work behind the scenes of a production, like the pianist sitting silently reading his book and jotting notes down until his cue to play the piano or the stage manager and assistant stage manager as they read out the lines belonging to the actors who are unavailable for that rehearsal because of being in another production. The lines of art and reality are blurred to such a degree that some actors are on the stage drinking tea and chatting during the interval, making us question where the one begins and the other ends. Then there are the two main characters themselves, both being presented as "not nice people" which, according to Auden, is because "all their best feelings go into their work and life has the residue".

I suppose its enough that I took something from the play, even if it wasn't the exact thing that the playwright had hoped for. It suprised me and entertained me and gave me some food for thought about the artistic temperament. I'll certainly be mulling over it for the next few days.....