Skipton Music - Chamber Philharmonic Europe

Final concert of the season - already! The Chamber Philharmonic Europe were in town to close the Skipton Music season with a varied programme - Nielsen, Borodin, Hummel, Schubert, Albinoni, Mozart.

The group consisted of 8 performers (soloist Pawel Zuzanski also performed as first violin) plus trumpeter Kirill Gusarov. An international bunch - at the end when the players were announced individually, the list of countries of origin included Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kazakhstan....

For me, the concert was quite mixed. Some pieces were excellent - very high quality performances; others less so. Kirill Gusarov was superb - both his solo, and the orchestra, in Hummel's Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra in E flat major, were really great; Kirill made the long phrases and trills of the trumpet sound so simple. Before that, a quartet from the Philharmonic performed Borodin's Nocturno from Quartett No. 2 in D major - a very well known piece but nonetheless performed strongly and simply. I'm sure most of the audience were holding their breath.

After the interval, Pawel Zusanski took the solo spot for Schubert's Rondo for Violin and Orchestra D438. Whilst a solid performance, it didn't match the Hummel in intensity. The other 'crowd favourite' which followed, Albinoni's Adagio in G minor for String Orchestra, was again performed with a simple, powerful manner.

The main concert finished with Mozart's Divertimento in F major K.138 - performed well especially in the 2nd and 3rd movements. The audience were then rewarded with two encores, Kirill Gusarov contributing Rafael Méndez' Romanza. Both encores excellent.

Maybe it's the way they play... but the assembled group didn't address the audience at all (even their bows were subdued) throughout the main programme. After being introduced at the end and between the encores, there was much more engagement - which was appreciated by the audience.

As for next year's Skipton Music - the proposed programme looks inviting, including names such as Alina Ibragimova.

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Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

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New talent at Southminster

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