In our on-going investigation of the cultural life of the Somerset/Wiltshire borders, we sallied northwards on Saturday night to Bradford-On-Avon and, for the first time, the Wiltshire Music Centre.
A curious building, attached to a school, with a lop-sided foyer tacked on to an auditorium which, with its breeze-block walls, bare metalwork and grubby ceiling, resembles nothing more than an oversized garage. Someone at Radio 3 once said it had the best acoustic outside London, and the Centre's marketing plays this up big time. Fair enough, but what the eyes take in also impacts on the concert-going experience - and this place is lacking any visual warmth or welcome.
Fortunately what was on the stage was not bits of giant Morris Minors, but the Paragon Singers of Bath, the Bradford Baroque Band and a handful of soloists. And they gave us a fascinating evening of mostly 17th Century Latin American music: Christmas in Cuzco. European classical forms met traditional indigenous rhythms - and the results were often infectious, sometimes beautiful and always instantly accessible.
The evening threw up a few questions too. This was music born out of barbarism (see Spanish Colonialism, Conquistadores etc), yet it was incredibly life-affirming. Paradox? And the lyrics were bizarre in their often direct address to the "blacks" - as far as the Spaniards were concerned, were these the native South Americans or their imported slaves?
The stars of the evening were percussionist Simone Rebello (cousin of jazz pianist Jason) and soprano Kate Semmens. The former, cool and elegant, switching effortlessly between a myriad of instruments. The latter, passionate and relishing this repertoire, looked like she was having to hold back her desire to bop around the platform to the catchy rhythms - clearly not 'the done thing' at a classical concert. Shame.
www.wiltshiremusic.org.uk
www.paragonsingers.co.uk
www.fantasiamusic.co.uk/classwind/bbb.html
No comments:
Post a Comment