I have really been enjoying myself lately, and have seen a rather wide variety of live performances (aside from the ones I’ve been playing in). In the last few of weeks I have been to see:
- Monteverdi ‘Vespers‘ performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at King’s Place
- ‘The Lying Down Concert – Earthrise‘ performed by the Ex Cathedra Choir, Joanna Macgregor and Kiku Day at the Royal Opera House (In the Floating Forest erected in the Paul Hamlyn Hall)
- ‘Bedlam’ written by Nell Leyshon, directed by Jessica Swale, performed at The Globe
- Berlioz ‘Grand Messe des Morts’ – a large collaboration of performers from the UK and Poland, performed in the Mary Magdalene Church in Wroclaw, Poland
The Monteverdi Vespers concert was wonderful – I went with my mum, who had heard it performed once before in Westminster Cathedral. I myself had never heard it performed live, and King’s Place is such a wonderful venue for a work like that because it’s so intimate. Both the choir and the orchestra were superb. Being a trumpet player I was naturally impressed by the stunning cornet playing, but I’d never heard the OAE perform before and the sound created with the period instruments and voices in plainsong was truly divine. The concert was recorded and I’m very much looking forward to hearing the recording when it is available.
The Lying Down Concert was an interesting concept. It was the London Premier of Earthrise composed by Alec Roth as a commission for Ex Cathedra to celebrate their 40th year. This coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing, and of the famous picture of the Earth rising above the surface of the Moon. Roth writes “the music of Earthrise is a meditation on this icon and falls into three sections:
Part I – Man’s constant drive for exploration and exploitation
Part II – A contemplation of the Earth seen from space
Part III – a plea for true wisdom and understanding
The text is set in the Latin of the Vulgate, and the whole is topped and tailed by two of the Great Advent Antiphons.”
Well, I’m not too sure about the deeper meanings of some of that, but I can assure you that the concert was a unique experience for me. Never have I been to a concert (in the Royal Opera House no less) and been invited to lie down on the floor, beneath a Floating Forest, and listen to a mixture of traditional and contemporary Japanese music (Takemitsu) alongside Messiaen, Tallis and the new Roth piece, all whilst watching the light show dance on the ‘trees’ and whilst an aerialist spins above me. I came out of the concert feeling as though I had meditated for just over an hour – what a wonderful way to enjoy some very earthly music.
Next up was a new play, Bedlam, at The Globe. I’d never been to The Globe before and that in itself is an experience – a rebuild of Shakespeare’s Globe which transports us back to Elizabethan London, and that includes paying extra to sit down and even more for a cushion! But back to Bedlam, an extravaganza that is set in a fictionalised version of Bethlem Hospital, London’s infamous insane asylum, in the middle of the 18th century. This is the first play ever written by a woman to be staged at The Globe so it was good to see history in the making, and although there were mixed reviews from the press, I thoroughly enjoyed the play and the whole Globe experience (including my friend Jim being dragged up on stage as part of the audience participation and the free bar afterwards, since we went on press night and Jessica Swale, the director, is a friend of mine).
The trip to Poland was exciting for me as I’d never visited the country before and didn’t really know what to expect. I found out that the people are very friendly, everything is pretty cheap, and since the weather was nice I spent 4 days wandering around Wroclaw thoroughly enjoying myself. The language is hard though – I learnt how to thank people in Polish and that was about it unfortunately, but I did see the hotel that Hitler used to stay in – pointed out to me by a taxi driver to which I replied “oh, wow, that’s…very interesting” as I wasn’t really sure how else to respond. I was actually in Poland to tag along with my boyfriend Sam, who was performing and recording the gargantuan Berlioz work ‘Grand Messe des Morts’ in the Mary Magdalene Church in Wroclaw. This huge piece of music required a choir of 200-odd singers, a full orchestra, with an additional 4 ‘brass bands’ and drums stationed in the corners of the stage and adjacent alcoves – 400 performers in total, including:
- Gabrieli Consort and Players
- The Chetham’s Symphonic Brass Ensemble
- Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir
- Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra
- Wroclaw Festival Choir
- Wroclaw Festival Orchestra
I sat in the church for some of the rehearsals and recording, but hearing the piece performed in full during the concert, with the sun setting through the huge window behind the stage, was incredible – the wall of sound that hit you when the full ensemble was performing was contrasted perfectly with the sections of quiet a cappella singing by the semi-chorus; a truly beautiful sound. I was so pleased I was able to see this concert – I knew quite a few of the guys that had been booked in the brass section and it was great to hear such an epic piece with those big brass moments, but the rest of the orchestra and the choir were wonderful too, and this work is performed so rarely because of the sheer scale of it and the amount of personnel needed to do it justice. I just hope I get booked to play it one day!
