Aldeburgh Festival 2006
The small town of Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast would be nothing more than a small seaside resort with a pebbly beach were it not for one fact: it was the place that Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears chose for their home. More than that, in 1948 they created the first Aldeburgh Festival. Pears’s original idea was ‘just a few concerts with a few friends’ but it is still going after 58 years and is now one of the most notable British festivals, particularly for those with an interest in 20th century music.
An inspired suggestion from a friend led me to my first visit to the Festival. The Suffolk countryside is rather flat but still attractive, there are numerous lovely houses and excellent country churches.
The Festival now lasts for just over two weeks with an intensive programme of concerts, lectures and opera, along with exhibitions and even slightly eccentric ‘beach events’, where you are invited to join forces with “Bladder-wrack” to ‘echo our relationship with the sea’ through the ‘use of live words’.
My programme started with a production of Stravinsky’s opera “The Rake’s Progress” at the Snape Maltings. The setting is sensational, set amongst reed beds and with exposed brick walls. It is the Festival’s largest venue, but still seating only just over 800. The performance was well sung by singers from the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins. The effective and witty production was by the hugely talented Neil Bartlett.
Saturday was a big day, starting with an 11am concert in Aldeburgh Parish Church. This was preceded by a visit to the graves of Britten and Pears, side-by-side in the churchyard. There was then a special frisson to listening to one of Britten’s earliest works (the Phantasy quartet) and recalling that his mortal remains were laid to rest less than 100 yards away.
Time then for a quick beer and a sandwich before driving on to the village of Orford for the next event: a concert entitled “Brian Ferneyhough Portrait.”. This included some Gregorian Chant and two motets from the fifteenth century all expertly sung by the young choir Exaudi (although the ladies were somewhat harsh of tone). But then we moved on to the music by the eponymous Brian Ferneyhough. Two violin pieces had me completely baffled and his Missa Brevis had me in helpless giggles, not least as I imagined staid liturgical events into which it could be inserted. The choir sometimes sang but also moaned, screamed and shouted the words of the Latin Mass.
Saturday evening brought another big event at the Snape Maltings: a concert by the Halle Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder. The centre piece of this was Britten’s Serenade for tenor horn and strings. For me this was the musical highlight of my visit: brilliant music with immaculate performances from tenor Timothy Robinson and Richard Watkins on horn.
The Sunday schedule was a little less hectic, which allowed time for a visit to the “Red House” and the Britten-Pears library there. This was another extraordinary and atmospheric experience of stepping in the footsteps of greatness. I was particularly pleased to note that the Britten-Pears library is sufficiently broad-minded to include Joan Sutherland ‘s autobiography on its shelves: she could not stand BB’s music and he cruelly lampooned her in his opera “Midsummer Night’s Dream”!
The afternoon concert was a piano recital in Blythburgh Church: Mozart, Schumann, Messiaen and Bartok played in the ‘sea of light’ that flows through that church’s windows on a sunny afternoon.
Back to Aldeburgh for the evening event: a challenging concert of string quartet music by Schoenberg, Berg and the man of the moment: Brian Ferneyhough. The rigours of all that atonal music were modified by some excellent lobster at a local restaurant and a sight of the famous “Aldeburgh Moon” as the late night moonlight crosses the sea and rises up the beach: magical.
Monday morning was Auden morning in Aldeburgh. First of all a lecture by the academic, novelist and poet John Fuller on “Auden the Poet”, then a recital of songs setting texts by Auden and sung by the promising young tenor Robert Murray. These took place in Aldeburgh’s Jubilee Hall, where the Festival first started 58 years ago.
Time for lunch at another excellent Aldeburgh restaurant before setting off home, with memories some of which will never leave me and an urgent desire to return to this brilliant festival.
An inspired suggestion from a friend led me to my first visit to the Festival. The Suffolk countryside is rather flat but still attractive, there are numerous lovely houses and excellent country churches.
The Festival now lasts for just over two weeks with an intensive programme of concerts, lectures and opera, along with exhibitions and even slightly eccentric ‘beach events’, where you are invited to join forces with “Bladder-wrack” to ‘echo our relationship with the sea’ through the ‘use of live words’.
My programme started with a production of Stravinsky’s opera “The Rake’s Progress” at the Snape Maltings. The setting is sensational, set amongst reed beds and with exposed brick walls. It is the Festival’s largest venue, but still seating only just over 800. The performance was well sung by singers from the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins. The effective and witty production was by the hugely talented Neil Bartlett.
Saturday was a big day, starting with an 11am concert in Aldeburgh Parish Church. This was preceded by a visit to the graves of Britten and Pears, side-by-side in the churchyard. There was then a special frisson to listening to one of Britten’s earliest works (the Phantasy quartet) and recalling that his mortal remains were laid to rest less than 100 yards away.
Time then for a quick beer and a sandwich before driving on to the village of Orford for the next event: a concert entitled “Brian Ferneyhough Portrait.”. This included some Gregorian Chant and two motets from the fifteenth century all expertly sung by the young choir Exaudi (although the ladies were somewhat harsh of tone). But then we moved on to the music by the eponymous Brian Ferneyhough. Two violin pieces had me completely baffled and his Missa Brevis had me in helpless giggles, not least as I imagined staid liturgical events into which it could be inserted. The choir sometimes sang but also moaned, screamed and shouted the words of the Latin Mass.
Saturday evening brought another big event at the Snape Maltings: a concert by the Halle Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder. The centre piece of this was Britten’s Serenade for tenor horn and strings. For me this was the musical highlight of my visit: brilliant music with immaculate performances from tenor Timothy Robinson and Richard Watkins on horn.
The Sunday schedule was a little less hectic, which allowed time for a visit to the “Red House” and the Britten-Pears library there. This was another extraordinary and atmospheric experience of stepping in the footsteps of greatness. I was particularly pleased to note that the Britten-Pears library is sufficiently broad-minded to include Joan Sutherland ‘s autobiography on its shelves: she could not stand BB’s music and he cruelly lampooned her in his opera “Midsummer Night’s Dream”!
The afternoon concert was a piano recital in Blythburgh Church: Mozart, Schumann, Messiaen and Bartok played in the ‘sea of light’ that flows through that church’s windows on a sunny afternoon.
Back to Aldeburgh for the evening event: a challenging concert of string quartet music by Schoenberg, Berg and the man of the moment: Brian Ferneyhough. The rigours of all that atonal music were modified by some excellent lobster at a local restaurant and a sight of the famous “Aldeburgh Moon” as the late night moonlight crosses the sea and rises up the beach: magical.
Monday morning was Auden morning in Aldeburgh. First of all a lecture by the academic, novelist and poet John Fuller on “Auden the Poet”, then a recital of songs setting texts by Auden and sung by the promising young tenor Robert Murray. These took place in Aldeburgh’s Jubilee Hall, where the Festival first started 58 years ago.
Time for lunch at another excellent Aldeburgh restaurant before setting off home, with memories some of which will never leave me and an urgent desire to return to this brilliant festival.
posted by Alnwickian at 9:02 pm
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