2 July 2010 and 4 July 2010
The First Weekend
The Allegri String Quartet)
James Gilchrist (Tenor)
This year’s Festival started on a high note on July 2nd with a striking contrast between well-loved string quartets by Schubert and Mozart and new works by British composers.
The Festival’s resident musicians, the Allegri String Quartet, continued their ongoing collaboration with composer Matthew Taylor by performing the world premiere of his new song cycle of Portuguese fado poetry, specially commissioned by the Festival and supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Sung by tenor, James Gilchrist, these melancholic traditional poems are delicately set for string quartet accompaniment to emphasise the particular flavour of the fado song with echoes of the fado guitar.
James Gilchrist followed this new work with another recently composed song cycle comprising a setting by composer Alec Roth of poems ‘Seven Elements’ by novelist and poet Vikram Seth. The audience was completely involved in the contrasted songs about the original elements of earth, air, fire and water, plus wood, metal and space, with a passionate and moving interpretation by James Gilchrist accompanied by different combinations of the four stringed instruments of the Quartet.
The theme of contrasts continued at the second Festival concert on July 4th with compositions from the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries. The Quartet opened with two Fantazias by Purcell, originally composed for the intimate sound of a consort of viols.
This was followed by Tippett’s second String Quartet, a lyrical and varied modern work which owes a debt to Beethoven. The heartfelt interpretation of the quartet was especially enhanced by guest cellist, Bozidar Vukotic, a founder member of the Tippett String Quartet. The evening closed with the 2nd Quartet of Mendelssohn, written when he was only 18, and which sent everyone out into the evening sunshine with wonderful melodic memories.
Deborah Grey
Committee Member