4 July 2008
The Allegri Quartet with Ieuen Jones
Family Concert
At the Llanfyllin Workhouse
An innovation this year, the Family Concert took place in a room in the Llanfyllin Workhouse, which is still very much in the throes of its renovation to become an arts centre for the area. The concert was intended especially for children, family parties and school groups, so the more informal space seemed preferable. It was perhaps a little dark, but we were there to listen, after all!
The first half of this afternoon consisted of introductions to the instruments, for the younger members of the audience, some fragments of works by Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn. Ieuen Jones gave us an introduction to the Harp, as his impressive concert harp had drawn considerable attention, and demonstrated its versatility and range. The musicians also played some musical fragments in different styles to demonstrate the different effects on the mood of the music, some of the children conducted a piece, and we all joined in a clapping game where the two halves of the room gradually got further and further out of sync until they came back to unison at the end. It's so pleasing when theory is proved in practice!
In the second half, we heard a mini-recital, beginning with a single movement of Haydn's Op 20 No 3. Performed to a counterpoint of childish commentary, a small voice was heard to say, very clearly, as the last chord died away, "That was great!". Then Ieuen Jones joined the quartet to play a Handel concerto for organ, rearranged for Harp and String Quartet (and very successfully too). Finally we heard a movement of a Tchaikovsky Quartet, which offered very different textures to the Haydn Quartet we heard earlier.
Rachel Wright
Committee Member