The Tenby Arts Festival 2009 was a wonderfully successful eight days, with the usual interesting mix of music, drama, poetry, talks, walks and fun for the family.
There was a good spirit around the town and record size audiences.
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The sun shone out on the first Saturday as the first beats of Swansea samba band, started the parade for the opening carnival of Tenby Arts Festival. Toe-tapping drums and twirling dancers led from the front, choir One Voice provided tunes from the back and a bevy of fancy dressed children boogied their way down to the harbour.
Here the fancy dress was judged, and the children could enjoy circus workshop and various other entertainment. However the highlight of the day was the final of Tenby’s Got Talent. Nine fantastic finalists battled it out to become the winner – although performing so amazingly in front of 500 people, meant they were all definitely winners on the day.
The sun continued to shine on the Sunday when there were over 30 entries in the sand-castle competition and another happy day was had by all.
Catrin Finch - uplifting performance of a Bach masterpiece...
It was an inspired decision by Tenby Arts Festival to invite harpist Catrin Finch to present a live performance of her transcription of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at a concert in St. Mary’s Church on September 25.
The original version of this unique masterpiece was published in 1741 under the title of ‘Aria with Several Variations’, and is a reminder of the surprising fact that some of Bach’s greatest music was first composed for either a functional or didactic purpose. A survey of the composer’s phenomenal creative output reveals how he made use of the vast range of structural devices available to composers at the time and raised them to new artistic heights. There is no doubt that the variation form was important to Bach, as exemplified in such works as the partitas for solo violin or the five sets of variations for organ.
Bach’s compositions have been rightly described as the musical equivalent of Shakespeare’s work in literature - the culmination of a particular artistic era. Bach’s music is of course much more than that, transcending boundaries of time, country, and musical genre. It is surely no coincidence that NASA once sent a recording of Bach’s music into space. It is also not surprising that many of his works have been performed using very different instrumental forces from the original. Catrin Finch’s remarkable transcription of the Goldberg Variations shows how that piece transfers extremely well from keyboard to harp.
The melody on which the work is based is song-like and memorable. During the course of the 32 variations, the tune undergoes constant transformation with an immense range of musical ideas, textures, dynamics, speed and mood. The large number of artistic devices used by Bach include a canon at every third variation.
Throughout the centuries, many musical masterpieces have been composed using variation form, including Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Handel, Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. These all have a number of features in common - diversity of music, a cumulative effect and structural unity. The same can e said of the Goldberg Variations, a major work providing a creative challenge for the composer and an interpretative one for the performer.
Catrin Finch’s live performance, preceded by a fascinating explanatory DVD, combined artistic insight, intellectual and emotional depth and superb technical skill. It was an uplifting and memorable musical evening.J.H.
Allegri Quartet - Superb festival concert celebrates past and present...
The mid-week concert at this year’s Tenby Arts Festival was given by the Allegri Quartet (St. Mary’s Church, September 23). This famous ensemble is one of the oldest British chamber groups in existence, having been founded in 1953. Although the personnel has changed over the years, the quartet has always consisted of some of the finest musicians of the string playing world. The present ensemble is made up of Ofer Falk (first violin), Rafael Todes (second violin), Dorothea Vogel (viola) and Katherine Jenkinson (cello).
The evening began with Haydn’s Quartet in F minor op.20, in which the composer moves away from the sometimes lightweight character of his early works to music of greater structural substance and intensity. The first movement is in large scale sonata form, the second a solemn minuet, the third a lyrical adagio and the finale a fugue of great energy and dramatic dynamic contrasts.
This was followed by the Quartet No. 6 op.36 (2006-8) by Matthew Taylor, a vivid work commissioned by the Little Missenden Festival with funds provided by that festival and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. The composer wrote that the piece, dedicated to his wife, reflected his ‘fascination in developing new structures from the older classical masters’. This is a powerful work in which the brilliance of the outer movements contrasts dramatically with the emotionally charged slower ones.
The second half of the concert began with a trio movement in B flat major by Schubert which served as a reminder of how that composer’s great gift for writing songs was carried through into his instrumental music.
The published programme ended with the Mendelssohn Quartet in E flat major op.12. This piece brings together many aspects of Mendelssohn’s creative genius and extraordinary energy, including mastery of classical structures, the ability to present these in a new light, the creation of memorable melodies, a natural aptitude for chamber music and an overall ‘joie de vivre’.
Next came a substantial encore - the Scherzo from the Ravel Quartet - a characteristic piece full of rich harmony and virtuosic writing and a further opportunity to enjoy the wonderful skills of the Allegri players.
So ended a fine concert which offered music by two past masters to mark their anniversaries this year contrasted with an exciting and memorable modern work. It was a combination of excellent programme planning, great music, and superb, luminous performances.
J.H.
Memorable massed male choir concert
A large audience was treated to a wonderful concert at the start of Tenby Arts Festival at Tenby Leisure Centre by a massed West Wales Male Choir of around 150 choristers from Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Tenby and Whitland
After the singing of" the National Anthem, compere for the evening, Phil Lloyd, welcomed the audience of both visitors and locals to the concert and introduced the various groups of choir members, recognisable by their different coloured blazers.The choir then began the concert by singing three well-known songs, 'Rachie,' 'Myfanwy,' and 'Amen', conducted by Tenby Male Choir conductor, Ian Williams, and accompanied by Jill Williams. This was a rousing start o the concert and greatly appreciated by the audience, judging by the applause!
A solo spot then followed, filled by Rebecca Griffiths, an extremely talented young flautist, who played 'Out of the Cool' by David Heath, followed by 'Hypnosis' by Ian Clarke (Rebecca's tutor at the Guildhall School of Music). She was accompanied by Dr. Stuart Evans, her local tutor. Rebecca attends the WelshCollege of Music and Dramaand is principal flute in thePembrokeshireYouth Orchestra and the Three Counties Orchestra, and a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.
The choir then continued with a change of conductor, this time under the control of Christine Shewry, the musical director of Haverfordwest Male Choir and accompanied by Carys Evans. They performed three contrasting numbers, 'Gwahoddiad,' 'Take me Home' and 'American Trilogy.'
After a short interval, the choir reassembled under the leadership of Chris Lloyd, musical director of Pembroke Male Choir. Accompanied by Jenny Griffiths, the choir sang 'Yfory,' 'Pan F'or nos yn Hir' and 'Morte Christe.'
There then followed another solo spot, this time by Steffan Ciccotti, a brilliant young percussionist. He is a former pupil of Greenhill School, where he studied percussion with Melanie Walker, who loaned her marimba for the concert. Staffan has just commenced studying percussion and jazz piano at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Accompanied by Ben Heneghan, Staffan began by playing 'The Flight of the Bumble Bee' by Rimsky-
Korsakov, followed by 'II Dognoi di Pacakino' by Zivovic, 'Fugue in G Minor' by Bach and finally 'Rondo ala Turka' by Mozart.
The concert ended with Julie Rossiter, musical director of the Whitland Male Choir, conducting the massed choir in three numbers - 'Deus Salutis,' the well-known song 'Shenandoah' and finally a rousing rendition of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' At the piano for this part of the concert was Hefina Jones. The evening closed with everyone singing the Welsh National Anthem.
Throughout the evening, compere Phil Lloyd linked the programme together with jokes and anecdotes, to the amusement of the audience and choir alike. He has obviously had plenty of practice because he compered the Mass Choir Concert in the Royal Albert Hall recently.
Despite difficult acoustics in the hall, the choir performance was excellent, especially as they had only had one rehearsal together.Did the audience go away with a good feeling? Had they had their money's worth? The answer - a resounding Yes!
EAW
The Hatstand Opera
A night at the opera is not the kind of event where you expect to see the whole audience joining in on Tom Jones’ hit “Delilah”, but that was just one of the surprises when Hatstand Opera played the St Brides Spa Hotel, Saundersfoot, as part of the Tenby Arts Festival. This night at the opera was “A Bite at the Opera”, where festival-goers sat down to a three-course dinner on 22 September, being entertained between courses by one of the brightest vocal ensembles in Britain.
St Brides proprietor Andrew Evans and his superbly drilled staff put on a magnificent spread, and if the rich chocolate tart with crushed pistachios and thick cream was a step into the naughty zone, Hatstand’s programme of opera highlights was pretty mischievous, too.
Tom Jones notwithstanding, the evening packed in a well-crafted programme of opera highlights, with Puccini, Mozart, Delibes and Weber among the composers, introduced with great spirit by Hatstand’s Kirsty Young (“Not the one who presents Desert Island Discs,” she explained). In between numbers she took us through some of the basic facts of operatic life. “If you are to be successful in opera as a tenor,” she said, “you must have no brains at all.” And with sopranos always taking the limelight, Miss Young decried the lot of the humble mezzo-soprano – doomed to play bores and old bags, she said.
Hatstand’s soprano is Toni Nunn from Australia (“Land of the convicts,” said Miss Young), while tenor Richard Owen had taken the unaccountable step of moving from his native North Wales to Birmingham, she added, shaking her head.Endeavouring to keep the singers under some kind of control was pianist Jeremy Fisher – named, said Miss Young, before his parents had read anything by one-time Tenby visitor Beatrix Potter.
The merry banter was lapped up by the audience as readily as the melon roses with raspberry crush, but what makes Hatstand Opera such a surefire hit is that its members are first-class musicians who know how to pack a punch vocally and do so to thrilling effect.
Even the pianist proved himself an accomplished singer, putting on a real star turn to deliver a spoof song containing every operatic cliché in the book.
Another hit saw Toni Nunn working the audience shamelessly, draping gentlemen in the audience with a scarlet feather boa and two long leopard-skin gloves.And the Tom Jones? It was to mark tenor Richard Owen’s Welsh roots, said Kirsty Young. Owen strutted his stuff in a scarlet shirt, gold medallion dangling on his chest, the two women and Jeremy Fisher all resplendent in blonde wigs.
KC
If Hatstand’s “Bite at the Opera” was something of an experiment for the Tenby Arts Festival and St Brides, it was a gloriously successful one, completely selling out, and leaving a happy audience hoping for a return visit next year.
KC
Jacqui Dankworth - on top of the world -
Saturday night brought glamour and memorable music to Tenby for the last night of the Tenby Arts Festival. Jacqui Dankworth and her band made their first appearance in Wales, continuing the aim of the festival to bring top-class musicians to Tenby.
Jacqui, daughter of Cleo Laine and Johnnie Dankworth, continues the family tradition of performing sophisticated cool jazz with professional excellence. Each member of her band, Malcolm Edmonstone piano, Chris Allard guitar, Roy Dodds drums, and brother Alec Dankworth on bass, is a world-class soloist in their own right.
Last Saturday, Jacqui and the band started the evening quietly with a mixture of her own beautiful compositions, contemporary songs by Sting and James Taylor and most notably the Ella Fitzgerald song ‘Will you come home?’, which featured a memorable duet by guitar and bass.
The second half brought a change of pace and style with clever arrangements of standards and powerful ballads. The romantic song, ‘On the street where you live’ from My Fair Lady by Lerner and Loewe, was given a lively, unusual treatment which delighted the large and appreciative audience. But the best number was kept until the second encore of the night. ‘Top of the World’ from her new album was performed with such verve and power that it held the cheering audience spellbound. A fitting climax to a brilliant arts festival week.
Thank you, Jacqui, for travelling to West Wales at the start of your UK and European tour. Thanks, too, to sound engineer Garry Blount for so much tireless work and the team at the De Valence, without which these concerts could not be held in Tenby.
P.P.
Symposia String Quartet -
Following its highly successful recital at last year’s Tenby Arts Festival, the Symposia String Quartet was back this year on 21 September with a concert of Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms in St Johns Church.
The quartet has established a growing reputation around Europe over the last seven years and its contribution to Tenby’s 2009 festival displayed a confidence and assurance from the young players - violinists Charlie Newman and John Dickinson, viola player Perdy Syers-Gibson and cellist Gina van Hoorn Alkema. The recital was notable for its crisp and articulate ensemble playing and the warmth of tone, aided by the mellow acoustic of St Johns.
The concert opened with Haydn’s Quartet Op 54 No 1, its bright and cheerful opening movement despatched with brio. The Allegretto showed the group at its best, with beautifully controlled playing of great musicality. The characteristic Minuet and Trio was sent on its way at a smart pace and the closing Finale chased its tail in an uplifting and invigorating display of virtuosity.
Viola and cello got their moment of glory in Beethoven’s “Eyeglasses” Duo, its title thought to have been a joke by Beethoven at the expense of his short-sighted cello-playing friend Nikolaus Zmeskall.Showing the often irascible Beethoven in a more lighthearted vein, the piece was played with great spirit by Perdy Syers-Gibson and Gina van Hoorn Alkema, the two lower voices of the string family blending magnificently.
If Beethoven put a seal on summer, Brahms’ Quartet Op 51 No 2 ushered in autumn, its richly colourful scoring played with a sure sense of style. A challenging work for any quartet, it was given a real edge-of-the-seat performance here, the players heading off dangerous moments with great energy. From the poignancy of the opening movement through to the spirited Finale, the players’ empathy with the music was abundantly apparent.In the second movement, where there is a strong sense of being on a journey, the quartet managed to both give the music breathing space and also maintain the essential momentum, displaying a great feel for phrasing and musical structure.The spirited Finale shows Brahms at his most optimistic and was given a first-class performance here, rounding off a technically taxing but crisply executed programme that drew warm applause from the St Johns audience.
It would be good to see the Symposia String Quartet become a regular fixture in the Tenby arts calendar.
KC
“The Just-William Lady” –
Holding the attention of an audience for two hours would be a challenge for any actress but Alison Neil succeeded brilliantly in her own one-woman play ‘The Just William Lady’, which she performed at Church House on Sunday 20th September.
The moment she looked up from her writing desk and invited the audience to listen to her reminiscences she became the celebrated authoress Richmal Crompton.The transformation was enhanced by a wonderfully authentic set, which showed great attention to detail.
Combining humour and pathos, ‘Ray’, as she was known, described her childhood with sister Gwen, brother Jack, and Phyllis who did not survive very long but was never forgotten. Sent away to school, she embraced the experience with vigour and took to corresponding with her father, a Reverend, in Latin. She went on to study Classics and took up a post at her old school where it became increasingly difficult to conceal her alter ego as creator of William Brown, whose exploits were wildly popular with staff and pupils. Just when it seemed that things were going ‘rather well’ she succumbed to polio in an age when there was no treatment for the disease. However, she summoned up great determination to recover and, as soon as her writing hand was restored to mobility, decided to become a full time writer. She published forty romantic novels but it was William whose exploits led her to fame and fortune. She was slightly nonplussed by this but had a ready supply of material thanks to the antics of her brother Jack and, later, her nephew Thomas.
This superbly crafted play led us through the many decades of her life, cleverly evoked by music playing on the radio and the subtleties of ageing that Alison brought to the role. This was a captivating performance with dramatic highlights illustrating Richmal’s great sense of fun and wry outlook on life. As in all the best writing there were moments of sadness but shining through there was also an unquenchable sense of optimism. A remarkable woman vividly portrayed by a remarkable actress.
K.D.
“The Doctor and the Devils” -
Fluellen Theatre Company regularly bring first class productions to the Tenby de Valence Pavilion. During the holiday season the audience was splitting its sides every week with hilarious comedy, but on Monday this week as part of the Tenby Arts Festival the company showed a very different side of its nature with an adaptation of “The Doctor and the Devils” by Dylan Thomas.
In the early 1940s Dylan Thomas was commissioned by Donald Taylor of Strand Films to write a film script about the Edinburgh body snatchers. When Donald Taylor received the finished script he immediately recognised the literary merit of the play and ensured that it was published even before the film was made. This was at the very time that “Under Milk Wood” was first being performed in New York.
Fluellen Theatre Company commissioned Francis Hardy to adapt this macabre play for them and it was first performed in Swansea earlier this month. Huw Richards headed he cast as the doctor in collusion with the body snatchers. Adrian Metcalfe and Kevin Johns played the villains, who together with a strong cast of supporting actors in many character roles brought the story to life with lugubrious reality. Despite the subject matter there was much wry humour and the morality of a profession that can collude with criminals was certainly brought into question. Atmospheric background music was cleverly chosen and infinite scene-changes smoothly carried out. Altogether this was a very memorable production, directed by Peter Richards.
The only disappointing aspect of this impressive production was the amount of action that took place at floor level, because the stage was not big enough to hold it all. This meant that a large proportion of the audience was unable to enjoy the play to the full. Could the de Valence not invest in some staging that could be ‘added on’ when big productions come to Tenby?
EJ
Pint-sized plays are lapped up in Tenby -
Pint-sized plays opened Tenby Festival Week in six pubs, where the plays were performed to packed pubs, who thoroughly enjoyed the short five-10 minute comedies they saw.Pubs, which had been fairly empty, filled up as the performance time approached and, remarkably, what were very noisy pubs became quiet as the plays started, followed by loud applause at the end.
Audience feedback was extremely encouraging too.
Comments included: “Not the usual for a pub. But what a performance. Good acting. Well done. Will spread the word!”, “Brilliant - a wonderful outlet for the cast - and a wonderful time for the audience - thank you!”, “As good as last years - if not better.”
There were holidaymakers who went to festivals in London, Shrewbury and the Buxton Fringe, who all said it was something that should be done where they lived.
Pint-sized Plays is already spreading to North Wales with four of last year’s plays being performed in Anglesey soon.
And the Welsh version now to be called ‘Dramâu Dros Beint’ (Plays over a Pint) is planned for North Pembrokeshire later in the year.
