Our Scholars’ Spotlight series continues filming today; this morning, it’s the turn of second-year flautist from the School of European and Cultural Languages, Beth Chapman, recording repertoire by Telemann and Rhene-Baton.
Whilst this afternoon, first-year Kent and Medway Medical School student and pianist, Michael Lam, is recording a recital of Schumann.
A new project for the coming year involves exploring neglected piano repertoire written by women composers, which we’re starting to present in a sequence called Minervan Miniatures. The series of short recordings highlights forgotten gems and unearths overlooked piano pieces, and affords the opportunity to bring women composers into the limelight.
Like a musical cabinet of curiosities, Minervan Miniatures will unfold as a series, and next year will see a series of piano recitals themed around diverse repertoire, performed by Your Loyal Correspondent.
The first three episodes in the series are now online; the first features two preludes by Nannie Louise Wright, combining almost Wagnerian majesty with sonorous textural writing in a series of twelve preludes that demands further exploration:
The second episode presents a trio of tangos, full of flair and vigour, by Maria Ramalho Pires Galvao and Chiquina (Francisca) Gonzaga.
The third piece is the beautifully melancholic Cantico do Pastor by the very, very young Sylvia Regina Portella:
More as the series unfolds; there are some marvellous pieces I’m currently discovering, including a bold statement set of piano preludes that deserves much wider recognition; I’m looking forward to bringing this repertoire to the concert-hall next year.
We’re back this week, continuing to film new material in our Scholars’ Spotlight series, highlighting Music Performance Scholars and Award Holders here at Kent.
This morning, it’s the turn of Arthur Zhang, reading French in the School of European Culture and Languages, recording pieces by Handel, Ligeti and Schumann. Keep an eye out for the film, coming soon.
The second volume in the Magnificat series by Andrew Nethsingha and The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge takes a keen look at settings of the Evening Canticles across the years, from 1932 to 2019 from stalwart composers of the canon in Sumsion and Howells to perhaps lesser-known figures including Sydney Watson (who conducted the first performance of Walton’s epic The Twelve) and Giles Swayne, as well as contemporary titans Arvo Pärt and Julian Anderson.
Swayne’s wonderfully dynamic Magnificat I setting revels in repetition, bearing African influences, pitching glowing upper-voices over repeated lower voices, whilst a radiant ‘Amen’ recedes skywards. There is the usual vigorous, robust setting by Walton, a richly celebratory response to the text’s jubilation. Luminous cluster-chords opens Lennox Berkeley’s meditative, contemplative setting, which pushes ahead with a wonderfully expressive flow, in contrast to Swayne’s rhythmically robust response. Pärt’s hushed, timeless incarnation of the text is filled with a reverential awe in its widely-spaced textures and unhurried pace.
The disc finishes with the challenging, bracing setting by Julian Anderson, written for the college’s 150th anniversary in 2019. His Magnificat is vibrant with polyrhythms and a dizzying web of textures; contrasting lyrical, melodic lines unfold over glowing sustained chords in Anderson’s richly colourful tonal language. In contrast is a sedate, darker-hued Nunc Dimittis – which brings the whole disc to a reverentially hushed conclusion.
The introductory essay by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, speaks of “these ancient hymns, so redolent of continuities yet so full of radical surprise,” words true both of the canticles and of this absorbing treasury, impeccably performed by St John’s College Cambridge Choir under the direction of Andrew Nethsingha.
Magnificat 2 is released on 16 April on Signum Classics.
Our Scholars’ Spotlight series of short filmed recitals continues with fourth-year Drama and Theatre Studies student and mezzo, Carmen Mackey.
Filmed in Colyer-Fergusson Hall under COVID-safe restrictions, Carmen performs songs by Madeleine Dring and Frank Bridge.
This week’s episode of our In Conversation series features saxophonist with the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Phil Veacock, in discussion with director of the University Concert and Big Bands, Ian Swatman.
From reflecting on early inspiration playing the recorder and school leading into playing the clarinet, Phil looks back on being inspired to take up the saxophone on seeing 2-Tone bands playing on Top of the Pops; playing with The Larks and turning down a recording contract; illicit vegetable snaffling in east Kent; joining the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, playing on Wogan and Chris Evans’ Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush and the ‘Hootenanny’ revels; and, during COVID restrictions, finding alternative work as a delivery driver for the Charlton Bakehouse bakery.
Enjoy this lively and fascinating chat over on our YouTube channel, where the hour-long conversation is divided into chapters covering various aspects of Phil’s reflections.
This week’s episode of our Zoom For Thought podcast is the second episode featuring an interview with Radio Lento, the weekly podcast presenting ‘sound postcards from beautiful places.’
In the second part of the interview with Hugh, he reflects on listening to the skies over his back garden over lockdown when air traffic had been suspended; the impact of drone technology on environmental sound; the importance of listening in to other worlds; and the idea of structured listening to the environment compared to listening to music.
Listen to the episode on Spotify here.
(You can hear the first episode here.)
The latest in our Scholars’ Spotlight series of short filmed recitals features second-year Psychology student and soprano, Felicity Bourdillon; a Music Award Holder at the University, Felicity’s recital comprises a brace of Baroque arias – ‘Oft she visits’ from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and ‘Quia respexit’ from Bach’s Magnificat,
Filmed in Colyer-Fergusson Hall and edited by Thomas Connor.
